Transplantation of viral-positive hepatitis C-positive kidneys into uninfected recipients offers an opportunity to increase organ access. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has provided the impetus to transplant kidneys from hepatitis C virus-positive donors into uninfected recipients (D+/R-). Thirty D+/R- patients received DAA treatment. Sustained virologic response (SVR12) was defined as an undetectable viral load in 12 weeks after treatment. An age-matched cohort of uninfected donor and recipient pairs (D-/R-) transplanted during same time period was used for comparison. The median day of viral detection was postoperative day (POD) 2. The detection of viremia in D+/R- patients was 100%. The initial median viral load was 531 copies/μL (range: 10-1 × 108 copies/μL) with a median peak viral load of 3.4 × 105 copies/μL (range: 804-1.0 × 108 copies/μL). DAAs were initiated on median POD 9 (range: 5-41 days). All 30 patients had confirmed SVR12. During a median follow-up of 10 months, patient and graft survival was 100%, and acute rejection was 6.6% with no major adverse events related to DAA treatment. Delayed graft function was significantly decreased in D+/R- patients as compared to the age-matched cohort (27% vs 60%; P = .01). D+/R- transplantation offers patients an alternative strategy to increase access.

publication date

  • March 10, 2020

Research

keywords

  • Hepatitis C
  • Hepatitis C, Chronic
  • Kidney Transplantation

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85081230184

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1111/ctr.13833

PubMed ID

  • 32072689

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 34

issue

  • 4