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