Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Safety of kidney transplantation in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive patients has been paid increasing attention.
OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical observation and treatment strategy in HCV RNA-positive patients after kidney transplantation.
METHODS: A total of 22 HCV RNA-positive patients were involved in this study, of which 14 patients had mild liver dysfunction. The patients' liver and kidney function were detected regularly and corresponding doses and types of the anti-immune rejection drug were adjusted in time to prevent possible immunological rejections.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: During the postoperative follow-up period of 6-36 months, 20 patients presented with different degrees of liver dysfunction at 4 weeks-6 months. After drug treatment, liver function recovered to normal level. At 1.5 years after kidney transplantation, one patient died of severe liver failure due to changing his anti-rejection program by himself. Four patients presented with HCV RNA-negative symptoms after using interferon combined with ribavirin after kidney transplantation, while the remaining 18 patients remained to present HCV RNA-positive symptoms and required long-term liver treatment. These findings suggest that HCV-positive recipients should be strictly followed up after kidney transplantation to ensure that appropriate managements would be taken in time when their liver function appeared abnormal.