- TUESDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) — Patients with hepatitis C
who receive a liver from a donor over age 60 aren't at an increased risk
for transplant failure, death or recurrent disease within five years after
transplantation, say researchers at the Washington University School of
Medicine, in St. Louis.

They analyzed data from 489 adults who had liver transplants at the
school between 1997 and 2006. Of those patients, 187 (38.2 percent) had
hepatitis C and 302 (61.8 percent) had other indications for liver
transplant.

Of the patients with hepatitis C, 88.1 percent were still alive after
one year, 78.3 percent survived three years, and 69.2 percent survived
five years. Donor livers were still functioning in 85.6 percent of
hepatitis C virus-positive recipients after one year, 75.6 percent after
three years, and 65.6 percent after five years.

When they compared patients with hepatitis C and those without
hepatitis C, the researchers found no differences in rates of patient
survival and transplanted liver survival at one, three and five years.

“However, similar to other long-term transplant centers, we observed a
negative effect from recurrent hepatitis C virus with a trend toward
worsened long-term survival between years five and 10,” the researchers
wrote.

Among the patients in the study, 24 (12.8 percent) of those with
hepatitis C and 48 (15.9 percent) of those without the virus received
livers from donors age 60 and older. These recipients and those who
received livers from younger donors had similar one-, three-, and
five-year survival rates.

The findings were published in the July issue of the Archives of
Surgery.

“In conclusion, overall patient and graft (organ) survival in hepatitis
C virus-positive recipients is comparable with that in hepatitis C
virus-negative patients, and there seems to be little, if any, adverse
effect on short- and medium-term follow-up with the use of carefully
selected older donor grafts in recipients with hepatitis C virus,” the
researchers concluded. “Data from this series suggest that the continued
use of selected older donors is a safe method of expanding the liver donor
pool, even for hepatitis C-positive recipients.”

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about hepatitis C.