Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus in the Liver Transplant Recipient

Significant necroinflammatory and/or fibrotic histologic changes should prompt consideration of antiviral therapy in liver transplant recipients with chronic hepatitis C. Depending on the patient, consideration of lower-dose pegylated interferon initially, with an increase to standard doses over the course of 1 month, may improve patient compliance and tolerance. The use of growth factors to prevent anemia and leukopenia is encouraged. Liver transplant recipients should be treated for at least 1 year, until data are available on optimal duration of therapy in non-genotype 1 patients in this patient subpopulation.