also be explained by easing of the criteria for transplant listing and relief of some relative contraindications.Conclusions | The clinicodemographic portrait of liver transplant recipients in the United States is changing. The growing proportion of transplant recipients with comorbidities may warrant additional efforts for optimal management of these patients.
Despite all improvements in liver transplant technique and patient management, the changes in post-transplant outcomes vary. While inpatient mortality, graft losses and post-transplant infect-ion rates improved substantially, post-discharge mortality remains stable because of increasing losses to competing risks in patients with non-liver comorbidities.
Liver transplantation is a life-saving procedure with significant economic burden to our society. Severity of illness is the common driver of both in hospital mortality and resource utilization.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common complication of HCV infection leading to liver transplantation. We evaluated the impact of aetiology of liver disease on patient and graft survival following liver transplantation for HCC. From the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (2002-2011), all adults who underwent liver transplantation for HCC were retrospectively included. Aetiology of liver disease was grouped into HCV, HBV, HCV-HBV co-infection and nonviral liver disease. Of 8,733 liver transplant recipients with HCC, 5507 had HCV, 631 had HBV, 163 were co-infected, and 2432 had nonviral causes of liver disease. In follow-up (48 ± 32 months), 8.2% had graft failure and 29.5% died. The mean rates of graft failure were 9.5%, 4.7%, 6.1% and 6.4% in HCV, HBV, HCV-HBV co-infection and nonviral liver disease, respectively (P < 0.0001). Post-transplant mortality rate in patients with HBV was 20.2%, HCV 31.0%, HCV-HBV 28.5% and nonviral 28.5% (P < 0.0001). This difference was significant starting one year post-transplant and became even more prominent later in follow-up. Five-year post-transplant survival was 64.7% in HCV, 77.7% in HBV, 71.0% in HCV-HBV and 69.1% in nonviral HCC (P < 0.0001). A diagnosis of HCV in patients with HCC was also independently associated with an increased risk of both graft failure (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.84 (1.46-2.33), P < 0.0001) and mortality (1.35 (1.21-1.50), P < 0.0001) in multivariate analysis. Patients with HCV-related HCC are at higher risk of adverse post-transplant outcomes. These patients should be considered for preemptive interferon-free antiviral therapy prior to or immediately following liver transplantation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.