Review of heart transplantation from hepatitis C-positive donors

Table 1 Heart transplantation from hepatitis C virus-positive donors in the pre-direct-acting antivirals era

Ref.	Study type	Study group	Outcome
Pereira et al[22], 1991	Retrospective, observational	6 HCV-negative recipients underwent HT from HCV Ab-positive donors	50% of recipients acquired HCV infection and higher incidence of liver disease was noted
Hayashi et al[23], 1994	Case Report	46-yr-old male with end- stage cardiomyopathy receiving HT from HCV Ab-positive donor	Fulminant liver failure and patient died in less than 2 yr
Lim et al[24], 1994	Case Report	51-yr-old male undergoing HT from HCV Ab-positive donor	Fulminant hepatitis, which was treated successfully with interferon-based therapy; Died due to pulmonary aspergillosis
Zein et al[25], 1995	Observational	1 HCV-negative recipient underwent HT from HCV Ab-positive donors	Cholestatic liver disease and liver failure-related mortality
Pfau et al[26], 2000	Retrospective	5 recipients without HCV infection underwent HT with HCV Ab-positive donors	1 out of 5 recipients became HCV Ab-positive; Elevated liver enzymes were noted and normalized by 12 mo
Marelli et al[27], 2002	Retrospective	20 recipients (10 were status I and 10 were status II) without HCV infection underwent HT from HCV NAT-positive donors	Overall survival was 90% in status I and 80% in status II group; Higher incidence of rejection and CAV were noted
File et al[5], 2003	Retrospective	10 recipients without HCV infection underwent HT from HCV-positive and NAT-positive	All recipients became HCV NAT-positive, 6 out of 9 recipients developed hepatitis and severe liver injury occurring in 2 patients; Inferior survival of 70% was noted
Gudmundsson et al[28], 2003	Retrospective	7 recipients without HCV infection underwent HT from HCV Ab-positive donors	Overall 5-yr survival was 71.4%; 3 developed chronic active hepatitis, 1 died from liver failure
Wang et al[29], 2004	Retrospective	4 recipients without HCV infection underwent HT with HCV Ab-positive donors	1 recipient became HCV Ab-positive without clinical hepatitis
Haji et al[30], 2004	Retrospective	34 recipients without HCV infection underwent HT from HCV Ab-positive donors and evaluated overall mortality and CAV	75% of recipients became HCV seropositive; Higher mortality by 2.8-fold and accelerated CAV by 3.0-fold was noted compared to the control group
Gasink et al[31], 2006	Retrospective, registry-based, cohort	261 recipients without HCV infection underwent HT with HCV Ab-positive donor	Overall inferior 1-yr, 5-yr, and 10-yr survival compared to control; Higher incidence of liver disease and CAV were noted

Ab: Antibodies; CAV: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy; HT: Heart transplant; HCV: Hepatitis C Virus; NAT: Nucleic acid test.