Living donor liver transplantation for end-stage hepatitis C

Living donor liver transplantation is important for patients with end-stage viral hepatitis because of the shortage of organs from deceased donors. However, preliminary results indicate that living liver donation might be disadvantageous for hepatitis C virus-positive patients. Twenty-seven patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus cirrhosis preemptively received antiviral therapy using interferon-alpha2b and ribavirin, which was started an average of 32 days after the operation and continued for at least 6 months thereafter. The serum hepatitis C virus RNA became negative in the 8 of 16 patients with more than 1 year follow-up. The cumulative 3-year patient survival was 85%, which was comparable to that of hepatitis C virus negative patients (n = 93; 90%). Preemptive antiviral therapy after transplantation may be necessary for satisfactory results after living donor liver transplantation.