The New Era of Hepatitis C: Therapy in Liver Transplant Recipients

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the leading cause of end-stage liver disease in both Europe and the United States and is the most common reason for liver transplant. In the absence of antiviral therapy, recurrent infection is the norm with subsequent graft hepatitis and impaired survival. Whether it may be better to postpone therapy in patients in whom higher risk of failure and toxicity is coupled with lower chance of liver function improvement likely depends on several factors, including waiting time, center allocation policy, presence of hepatocellular carcinoma and local prevalence of anti-HCV-positive donors.

Keywords: Anti-HCV–positive donors; Cirrhosis; Direct antiviral agents; Drug-drug interactions; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver transplant; Waiting list.