Balancing the risk and rewards of utilizing organs from hepatitis C viremic donors
Purpose of review
Owing to long waitlist times and high waitlist morbidity and mortality, strategies to increase utilization of hepatitis C viremic-deceased donor organs are under investigation in kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplantation.
Recent findings
Direct-acting antiviral medications for hepatitis C virus infection have high cure rates and are well tolerated. Small, single-center trials in kidney and heart transplant recipients have demonstrated that with early posttransplant direct-acting antiviral therapy, 100% of uninfected recipients of hepatitis C viremic organs have been cured of infection after transplantation.
Summary
In this manuscript, we review the risks and rewards of utilizing hepatitis C viremic organs for transplantation.
Source: Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation - Category: Surgery Tags: ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF ALLOCATION: Edited by David A. Axelrod Source Type: research
More News: Antiviral Therapy | Cardiology | Heart | Heart Transplant | Hepatitis | Hepatitis C | Kidney Transplant | Kidney Transplantation | Liver | Liver Transplant | Lung Transplant | Medical Ethics | Surgery | Transplant Surgery | Transplants | Urology & Nephrology