Is Donor Hepatitis C Virus Infection Status Associated with Early Post-Kidney Transplant Failure in the Era of Direct-Acting Antiviral Medications?
1Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, 2United Network for Organ Sharing, Richmond, VA, 3Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, 4Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, 5Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, 6Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO
Meeting: 2022 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: 201
Keywords: Graft failure, Hepatitis C, Kidney transplantation
Topic: Clinical Science » Kidney » 32 - Kidney Deceased Donor Selection
Session Information
Session Name: Kidney Deceased Donor Selection I
Session Type: Rapid Fire Oral Abstract
Date: Monday, June 6, 2022
Session Time: 3:30pm-5:00pm
Presentation Time: 4:00pm-4:10pm
Location: Hynes Ballroom C
*Purpose: To determine the influence of donor hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection status on early kidney transplant (KT) failure in HCV negative recipients in the modern era of highly-effective, direct-acting antiviral medications.
*Methods: HCV-negative patients greater or equal to 18 years of age in the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database who received their first KT from a deceased donor between 2/28/2018 (when recipient HCV nucleic acid amplification testing [NAT] data became available) and 7/6/2021 were included. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazards ratios (HRs) for graft failure by donor HCV status (antibody [Ab]-/NAT-, Ab+/NAT-, and NAT+), adjusting for multiple transplant, donor, and recipient characteristics. Recipient characteristics were addressed by including a propensity score predicting patient selection to receive an NAT+ or Ab+/NAT- kidney in the model.
*Results: Of the 41,942 included patients, 1,689 received an HCV Ab+/NAT- kidney and 2,331 received a NAT+ kidney. 2,752 patients experienced KT failure over a median of 364 days of follow-up. Compared to donor HCV Ab-/NAT- status, Ab+/NAT- (HR=0.83, 95% CI: 0.66-1.03) and NAT+ (HR=0.86, 95% CI: 0.70-1.05) status were both associated with non-significantly lower risks of KT failure.
*Conclusions: Our findings suggest that transplanting HCV+ donor kidneys into HCV- recipients is not associated with an elevated risk of early graft failure in the modern era of direct-acting antiviral medications. They also suggest that inclusion of donor HCV status in the Kidney Donor Risk Index may no longer be appropriate; however, further research on longer-term outcomes beyond 0-3 years is needed before firm conclusions can be made.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Sutcliffe S, Chang S, Stewart D, Ji M, Lentine K, Gupta G, Alhamad T. Is Donor Hepatitis C Virus Infection Status Associated with Early Post-Kidney Transplant Failure in the Era of Direct-Acting Antiviral Medications? [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2022; 22 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/is-donor-hepatitis-c-virus-infection-status-associated-with-early-post-kidney-transplant-failure-in-the-era-of-direct-acting-antiviral-medications/. Accessed November 24, 2024.« Back to 2022 American Transplant Congress