An Ohio State University study finds more lives could be saved by using donors with hepatitis C positive livers. About 9,000 patients in the United States are awaiting liver transplants as reported by the United Network for Organ Sharing, (UNOS).
“The number of organs that are available for transplant is less than the people who need them,” said Dr. Navdeep Singh, OSU assistant clinical professor of surgery, and senior author of the study. “So ultimately, what happens is around 8 to 9% of those patients that die waiting for a liver every year. So that comes down to around 800 to 900 patients dying every year.”
Researchers from Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center Comprehensive Transplant Center used data from the national registry maintained by UNOS.
The research found short-term patient outcomes are not compromised by using livers from hepatitis C positive donors or from donation after circulatory death.
The research team looked at all deceased liver donor transplants performed between November 2016 and December 2021 from data maintained by UNOS, and follow-up data through September 2022. They also examined all deceased donor liver transplants performed at OSU'w Wexner Medical Center during the same time. The follow-up data continued through December 2022.
Singh said new medications such as sofosbuvir and velpatasvir that treat hepatitis C have made it safer to use livers with the disease. They are used to clear the virus from the body.
Singh says the outcomes show promising results. During OSU’s study of liver donations, the Wexner Medical Center performed 570 liver transplant surgeries from donors in all categories. Those included hepatitis C negative donation after circulatory death, hepatitis C negative donation after brain death, hepatitis C positive donation after circulatory death and hepatitis C positive donation after brain death.
"The one-year survival is equal to the person who gets the hepatitis C negative liver,” said Dr. Singh. “It's to the tune of 92%. So, there is. We didn't find any difference in this survivor from hepatitis C positive liver as compared to hepatitis C negative livers."
Singh said many more lives could be saved every year.
"This effort, it should be able to add at least 2 to 300 livers every year to the donor pool,” Singh. “So, in other words, that 2 to 300 patients should be able to get new livers."
Singh said OSU performs the most liver transplants from hepatitis C positive and donation after circulatory death donors in the U.S.
The study was published in the Transplantation medical journal.
