Recurrence and accelerated progression of hepatitis C following liver transplantation.

ABSTRACT

The patient described had recurrent hepatitis C following OLT. This hepatitis appeared early postOLT and progressed to fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis, a severe form of HCV recurrence. Factors such as genotype 1, high viral load and severe damage on the first postOLT biopsy may indicate a more severe outcome. We have hypothesized that, in parallel to what is known for hepatitis B, this rare form of recurrence was linked to a high expression of virus C proteins in the liver graft. Severe form of hepatitis C recurrence should be treated early with the best currently available treatment which is a combination of IFN and ribavirin. Large series of patients with comparable virological, histological and immunological inclusions criteria are necessary to evaluate the efficacy of this treatment.