Dr. Trine Engebretsen, Dr. Michael Kueht, and third year medical student John Johnson authored “Donor Hepatitis C status is not associated with an increased risk of acute rejection in kidney transplantation” in the journal Surgery in Practice and Science.
When deciding on a recipient for renal transplantation, it is vital to consider the donor's hepatitis C virus (HCV) status due to the significant risk of transmission. The authors conducted an analysis using electronic health record data from various US healthcare organizations to examine the impact of donor HCV status on both rejection rates and virologic infectious outcomes following renal transplantation. The team found that rejection risk was not associated with HCV status.
A message from Dr. Engebretsen:
"The Transplant Team at UTMB is committed to continuous improvement in patient care and life-long learning. HCV positive transplantation into HCV naïve recipients is a relatively novel phenomenon in transplantation born from the disproportionate gap between the demand for deceased donor kidneys and limited supply. (Pilot trial in 2017 N Engl J Med 2017; PMID: 28459186 and first reported case in 2021, Rawashdeh et al PMID: 33953151.) Our investigation into the benefit vs risk of transplanting HCV positive organs was reassuring. This data provides further evidence to support the use of HCV positive organs for transplant and expands number of kidneys available to our patients."
Congratulations Dr. Engebretsen, Dr. Kueht, and Mr. Johnson!