Incidence and Risk Factors of HCV Recurrence after Living Donor Liver Transplantation

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common indication for liver transplantation worldwide. Recurrence of HCV post transplantation is one of the major challenges which is associated with poor graft and patient survival. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of clinical HCV recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) and identify possible factors affecting it. The study was conducted on 122 recipients of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) due to HCV related liver cirrhosis. Clinical HCV recurrence was diagnosed by elevated liver enzymes, increased viral load and confirmed by histopathology of liver biopsy. Several factors related to recipients, donors, operative and postoperative period were analyzed for their relation to recurrent HCV. Our results showed that the clinical HCV recurrence was diagnosed in 22.7 % (28 patients) of LDLT recipients with 75% of them (21 patients) diagnosed in the first year post transplantation. Less graft recipient weight ratio (GRWR) and rejection episodes following surgery were the only factors significantly related to the development of recurrent disease.