Hepatitis C (HCV) remains the single most common etiology of end-stage liver disease leading to simultaneous liver/kidney transplant (SLKT) and has worse post-transplant survival compared to non-HCV patients. We aim to assess the effectiveness and tolerance of the all-oral direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents with or without ribavirin (RBV) in the treatment of HCV recurrence post-SLKT. Thirty-four patients were studied retrospectively, composed predominantly of treatment-naïve (73.5%) non-Caucasian (61.8%) males (82.4%) infected with genotype 1a (64.7%). 94.1% reached a sustained virologic response (SVR) after 24 weeks (32/34 patients), without difference between 12 and 24 weeks of therapy. 64.7% had no clinical side effects. Three deaths occurred, all unrelated to treatment. One patient had liver rejection; tacrolimus was increased and prednisone was initiated while HCV treatment was continued and the patient ultimately achieved SVR. No liver graft losses. No kidney rejection or losses. We demonstrated that DAA combinations with or without RBV result in a remarkable SVR rate and tolerated in the majority of the studied SLKT patients. It is safe to wait to treat until post-kidney transplant and therefore increase the donor pool for these patients. Our cohort is ethnically diverse, making our results generalizable.

This analysis demonstrates that early reoperations later than a week appear to negatively impact the graft survival. The timing of early reoperation should be a focus of additional studies.

We report a case of life-threatening hematemesis due to portal hypertension caused by an isolated arterioportal fistula (APF). Intrahepatic APFs are extremely rare and are a cause of presinusoidal portal hypertension. Etiologies for APFs are comprised of precipitating trauma, malignancy, and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, but these were not the case in our patient. Idiopathic APFs are usually due to congenital vascular abnormalities and thus usually present in the pediatric setting. This is one of the first cases of adult-onset isolated APF who presented with portal hypertension and was successfully managed through endoscopic hemostasis and subsequent interventional radiological embolization.

In an animal model of NAFLD, the omega-3 fatty acid therapy was associated with significant improvement in hepatic steatosis compared with exendin-4. These data suggest that omega-3 fatty acid supplements may have a potential therapeutic role in patients with NAFLD.

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