J Korean Soc Transplant.  2013 Mar;27(1):1-5. 10.4285/jkstn.2013.27.1.1.

Management of Hepatitis C Viral Infection Pre- and Post-liver Transplantation

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. baesh@catholic.ac.kr

Abstract

One of the strategies to improve the outcomes of liver transplantation of hepatitis C viral infection related diseases is antiviral therapy pre- and post-liver transplantation. The antiviral therapies have been attempted at various time points; pretransplantation period, pre-emptively after transplantation, a few months after transplantation, and in the cases of obvious recurrence. The goal of the pretransplantation antiviral therapy is to prevent HCV reinfection and the purpose of the posttransplantation antiviral therapy is to prevent HCV recurrence and liver damage. Peginterferon and ribavirin is the treatment of choice at this time but there are many treatment related side effects and the virologic response is still far from satisfactory. In this article, we have reviewed the results of the antiviral therapies against hepatitis C viral infection before and after liver transplantation and looked at the antiviral agents currently under investigation with special focus on the direct acting agents.

Keyword

Liver transplantation; Hepatitis C; Antiviral agents

MeSH Terms

Antiviral Agents
Hepatitis
Hepatitis C
Liver
Liver Transplantation
Recurrence
Ribavirin
Transplants
Antiviral Agents
Ribavirin

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