Intracoronary Intimal Thickness in Recipients of Hepatitis C-Positive Donor Hearts

Considering the success of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) to treat hepatitis C (HCV) and the shortage of organs for heart transplantation (HT), we institutionalized clinical protocol of using HCV-exposed donors in selected waitlist candidates. Prior to advent of DAAs, donor HCV viremia predicted poor post-HT outcomes, including higher risk of coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Using intracoronary ultrasound (ICUS) in patients acquiring post-HT HCV infection, we examined the risk of CAV in current era.

Source: The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation - March 31, 2018 Category: Transplant Surgery Authors: S. Zalawadiya, J. Lindenfeld, E. Haddad, M. Wigger, M. Danter, M. Keebler, M. Brinkley, J. Menachem, S.B. Sacks, H. Ooi, R. Perri, C. Chung, J. Awad, S. Smith, R. Hayes, H. O ’Dell, C. Darragh, S. Ruzevich-Scholl, K. Schlendorf Source Type: research