Hepatitis C Treatment Post Transplant

Hepatitis C, a chronic liver disorder caused by a virus, threatens lives even after patients have replaced their damaged livers with transplanted organs. This blood-borne virus, which according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases kills up to 12,000 Americans every year, can injure the new liver within months of the transplant procedure. Continued drug therapy holds the same benefits for transplant survivors as for other hepatitis sufferers.

Challenges

• While a liver transplant can save a patient with hepatitis C from imminent death, it usually does not eliminate the presence of hepatitis C virus from the body. A study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that only 12 percent of hepatitis C patients showed no signs of the chronic ailment. Fifty percent of the study participants still displayed a mild case of chronic hepatitis, 27 percent suffered from moderate hepatitis and 8 percent developed full-blown cirrhosis of the liver. The hepatitis C virus also caused damage to the transplant graft in some patients.

Benefits

• Hepatitis C patients who continue nonsurgical hepatitis treatment following their transplant have a better chance of controlling the virus’s recurrence than those who do not. Dr. Matthew Moeller of Henry Ford Hospital conducted a study on the subject and presented the findings at the 2010 Digestive Diseases Week conference. According to Moeller, 22 out of 66 patients who underwent the treatment managed to clear the virus out of their systems and sustain their virus-free status.

Treatment Options

• Doctors typically fight the hepatitis C virus with a drug called interferon, According to Drugs.com, interferon alfa-2b treats not only hepatitis but also leukemia, melonaoma, lymphoma and genital warts. These treatments usually include another drug called ribavirin. A variation of this drug, called peginterferon, has had even greater success in fighting the virus, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The patients in the Henry Ford Hospital study received both types of interferon in a weekly dosage accompanied by ribavirin.

New Developments

• In addition to the standard treatments involving interferon and ribavarin, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases sees promise in new antiviral treatments options for hepatitis C. These new agents may inhibit enzymes produced by the virus, prevent viral replication and protein production or bar entry of the virus into healthy cells. Future treatments employing enzymes may even fight the hepatitis C virus at the molecular level by binding to the virus and immobilizing it.

Considerations

• Even though transplant survivors can optimize their chances of remaining untroubled by hepatitis C through continuing treatment, not every patient tolerates interferon or ribavarin and their associated side effects. Interferon treatments may cause such adverse reactions as thyroid disease, seizures, hearing problems, bacterial infections or even suicidal depression. Ribavarin’s side effects include rashes and itching, anemia, irritability, fatigue, coughing and nasal congestion.