New Insights in Recurrent HCV Infection after Liver Transplantation

Hsu, Shih-Hsien; Yeh, Ming-Lun; Wang, Shen-Nien

Other similar studies pointed out that viral loads in serum returned to pretransplant levels within 24 to 48 hours after the procedure. Within weeks after transplant, viral loads would be approximately 1 log higher than pretransplant levels [4, 15] . However, studies investigating the impact of pretransplant viral load on the likelihood of HCV recurrence have produced controversial results. Several reports indicated that pretransplant viral load did not correlate with either the likelihood or timing of HCV recurrence following LT [16] . By contrast, one study including 166 HCV-infected recipients demonstrated that before transplant, HCV viral load greater than 1 million viral equivalents/mL was associated with decreased graft and patient survival [17] . Given the hypothesis that pretransplant treatment of HCV will reduce or prevent HCV posttransplant recurrence, it has been advocated that patients with HCV infection on the transplant list should be considered for therapy with the goal of obtaining sustained virological response (SVR) prior to LT [18] .