Observational Study Evaluating the Outcome of Cirrhotic Hepatitis C Patients Submitted to Renal Transplantation

After renal transplantation (RTx) hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with higher morbidity and mortality resulting in lower patient and graft survival. Few studies have investigated the evolution of renal transplant patients with cirrhosis owing to HCV. The objectives were to evaluate the post-transplant evolution of cirrhotic patients and to compare them with noncirrhotic patients considering the outcomes, including hepatic decompensation, graft loss, and death.

The retrospective-cohort study analyzed the data of patients undergoing RTx between 1993 and 2014, positive anti-HCV, HCV-RNA before RTx, and availability of data for assessment of cirrhosis. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables were compared between the groups according to the outcomes. The same were made between cirrhotic patients with and without portal hypertension (PH). Survival curves were constructed by the Kaplan-Meier test and compared by the log-rank test. Variables associated with the outcomes were analyzed using Cox regression.

This study included noncirrhotic (n = 201) and cirrhotic patients (n = 23). In cirrhotic patients, they were significantly older (49 vs 41.6 years) and mostly male (87% vs 65%), with a greater number of previous RTx (48% vs 18%), less frequent use of azathioprine (26% vs 54%), cyclosporine (13% vs 46.5%), more frequent use of tacrolimus (87% vs 55%), lower count of platelets × 1000 cells/mm³(110 vs 187), and higher pre-RTx international normalized ratio (1.20 vs 1.1).The Kaplan-Meier survival differed in cirrhotic vs noncirrhotic patients only in hepatic decompensation. Cox regression analysis identified pretransplant cirrhosis (hazard ratio 6.64, 95% confidence interval, 2.59-17.06) and tacrolimus (hazard ratio 3.17,95% confidence interval, 1.05-9.58) as variables independently associated with decompensation.

Patients with HCV and cirrhosis exhibit higher morbidity when submitted to RTx than noncirrhotic patients, with a higher risk of hepatic decompensation. However, no difference was observed in liver-related mortality, suggesting that RTx is a feasible option in cirrhotic patients without decompensation, even if they have PH.