Study finds Hepatitis C-positive livers safe for transplantation, patients cured afterward

Patients who received a transplanted liver infected with hepatitis C and were later treated for the infection performed as well in recovery as transplant patients who received an organ free of infection, says a new study.

The study was conducted by researchers of University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and UC Health and was published in the journal Liver Transplantation.

Two sets of 32 patients were enrolled in groups: one group receiving livers for transplant from donors testing positive for hepatitis C (HCV) and a second receiving livers for transplant from donors testing negative for the infection.

One patient in the experimental group died as a result of factors not related to hepatitis C during transplantation.

As part of the clinical trial, 32 patients received HCV-positive livers while a control group of 32 patients, all at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, received non infected livers for transplantation between June 2018 and October 2019.

No HCV treatment failures were reported and there were no differences in 30-day and one-year graft (or organ) and patient survival, length of hospital stay, complications or blood infections between the two groups.