Background: Due to the shortage of organs for transplantation, procurement of kidneys from marginal donors is inevitable. Not infrequently, these donors are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Aim: We sought to determine the effect of transplanting kidneys from anti-HCV-positive donors to anti-HCV-positive recipients.
Patients and methods: Among 765 procedures between 1994 and 2006, 259 kidney recipients were anti-HCV-positive, including 60 who received kidneys from anti-HCV-positive donors (HCV(+)/HCV(+) group) and the others, from seronegative donors (HCV(-)/HCV(+) group). The control group of 506 seronegative recipients received kidneys from seronegative donors (HCV(-)/HCV(-) group). All kidneys from anti-HCV-positive donors were preserved with machine perfusion. We investigated recipient liver function tests (LFTs; alanine aminotrasferase, aspartate aminotransferase; alkaline phosphatase, and bilirubin), graft survival, and patient survival.
Results: No significant difference was observed between the groups among the biochemistry results (LFTs, creatinine at 5 years). No significant differences, were observed in patient survival, graft survival, or number of patients returning to dialysis.
Conclusion: Transplantation of kidneys from HCV-positive donors to HCV-positive recipients did not influence long-term liver function, or long-term renal allograft function. This strategy enhances the availability of transplantation as means of end-stage renal disease treatment.