Hepatitis C and Liver Transplantation

This book provides a single reference for all transplant professionals involved in the care of HCV patients who have unique problems not encountered in other liver transplant patients. In the liver transplant community, it is well-known that decompensated cirrhosis from hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the leading indication for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in the United States and most Western countries. Short-term results which initially seemed promising and comparable to other carefully selected liver transplant recipients now appear less encouraging with cirrhosis developing in 10-25% of patients by 5 years. Despite these concerns, there is an increased amount of data which supports re-transplantation in carefully selected patients.