Outcome of living-related donor renal allografts in hepatitis C antibody-positive recipients.

EPATITIS C virus (HCV) is now the leading cause of posttransfusion hepatitis worldwide. 1 HCV infection has a prevalence of up to 48% in hemodialysis patients. 2 In our unit, positivity is 40% and this correlates with the number of blood transfusions received and the duration of dialysis. 3 We developed a criterion whereby all patients on hemodialysis with liver histology showing chronic or benign changes with stable liver enzymes for 3 months were selected for renal transplantation. Our initial results of short-term follow-up showed comparable results compared to HCV-negative recipients who underwent transplantation in the same period. 3 We now report a cumulative 3-year follow-up of 96 anti-HCV-positive recipients in comparison with 191 anti-HCV-negative individuals who underwent transplantation in the same period.