Copyright
©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 28, 2014; 20(32): 11281-11286
Published online Aug 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i32.11281
Published online Aug 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i32.11281
Hepatitis C in the pediatric population: Transmission, natural history, treatment and liver transplantation
Saira Khaderi, John A Goss, Division of Abdominal Transplantation, Micheal E DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Ross Shepherd, Daniel H Leung, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nutrition, Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Author contributions: Leung DH and Khaderi S wrote the manuscript; Shepherd R provided expertise regarding pediatric transplantation and assisted in writing the manuscript; Goss JA provided expertise regarding pediatric transplantation and assisted in writing the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Saira Khaderi, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Abdominal Transplantation, Micheal E DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, 6620 Main Street, Suite 1450, Houston, TX 77030, United States. khaderi@bcm.edu
Telephone: +1-832-3551400 Fax: +1-713-6102479
Received: January 30, 2014
Revised: April 12, 2014
Accepted: May 12, 2014
Published online: August 28, 2014
Processing time: 211 Days and 5.6 Hours
Revised: April 12, 2014
Accepted: May 12, 2014
Published online: August 28, 2014
Processing time: 211 Days and 5.6 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: The number of children affected by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United States is between 23000 to 46000. Current standard of care treatment includes weekly pegylated interferon and ribavirin twice daily. New enrollment into phase 1 and 2 trials with triple therapy are currently on hold due to the upcoming availability of all oral, interferon-free, direct acting antivirals. Triple therapy is associated with a rate of sustained virologic response (> 90%). Only 34 children were transplanted with HCV between January 2008 and April 2013. Pediatric survival rates post-transplant are excellent but graft survivals are reduced compared to adults. New antiviral therapies for recurrent HCV should help increase graft survival.