Posttransplant De Novo Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Renal Transplant Recipients: Its Impact on Morbidity and Mortality.

OBJECTIVES: The clinical effects of hepatitis C virus infection acquired after transplant have not been thoroughly studied. We aimed to study hepatitis C virus-related morbidity and mortality with de novo hepatitis C virus infection after renal transplant.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from mortality files were retrospectively collected from January 2011 to January 2015. Patients were divided into 2 groups: hepatitis C virus positive (group A) and hepatitis C virus negative (group B).

RESULTS: Eighty-one patients were included, with median duration of survival of 39 months after transplant. In group A (32 patients), 78.1% of patients were males, with mean age of 36.83 ± 9.15 years. The mean survival duration was better in group A than in group B (67.59 ± 67.1 vs 58.10 ± 59.6 mo; P = .58). Acute cellular rejection was 25% in group A versus 20.4% in group B, whereas chronic allograft nephropathy was 20.4% for group A versus 18.4% for group B. Hepatitis C virus-related death was observed in 7 patients (21.9%). Infection was the main cause of death, with 40.6% of patients in group A versus 53% of patients in group B. On multivariate analyses, better patient survival was associated with greater interval of acquiring HCV after transplant (P = .038).

CONCLUSIONS: HCV infection acquired after renal transplant is not associated with increased HCV-related mortality, and prognosis is related to the time interval of acquiring infection after transplant.