Early intrahepatic recurrence of HBV infection in liver transplant recipients despite antiviral prophylaxis.

In this work, we show that, despite the recommended prophylaxis based on NUC and HBIG, HBV can infect the new liver very rapidly after transplantation. Twelve months after transplantation, the majority of patients had at least one HBV marker detected in either serum or the liver. Therefore, our results demonstrate early intrahepatic viral recurrence despite NUC and HBIG therapy and underline the importance of an optimal patient compliance to the antiviral prophylaxis to prevent viral rebound.