Could Hepatitis C Infected Livers Be Used for Transplants?

Doctors at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City are the first to use hepatitis C infected livers for liver transplants. The doctors are removing the dying liver, replacing it with a hepatitis C infected liver, and then curing the patient of hepatitis C. The results are promising and would reduce the number of deaths of people waiting to receive a transplant.

Richard Gilroy, the medical director of the Liver Transplant Program at Intermountain Medical Center and his team hope to reduce the number of patients with incurable diseases on the liver transplant list. About 1500 people die each year while waiting to receive a new liver, and 1700 are removed because of their declining health.
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So far, only 2 patients have received livers with hepatitis C, but have shown promising results. A patient with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis underwent the surgery, and was put on a regime to treat the hepatitis C, and is now cured. The other patient who received a hepatitis C infected liver is in the process of treatment.

The use of hepatitis C infected livers could extend the lives of patients with incurable diseases and address the disparity between people who need livers and available donors.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Nation’s first: Intermountain Medical Center uses revolutionary approach to address organ shortage problem [news release]. Charlottesville, VA: newswire; December 14, 2016. http://www.newswise.com/articles/nation-s-first-intermountain-medical-center-uses-revolutionary-approach-to-address-organ-shortage-problem. Accessed December 16, 2016.

A Utah medical first: doctors at Intermountain Medical Center among nation’s first to use new liver transplant method to save lives [news release]. Salt Lake City, Utah; December 9, 2016. https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news/2016/12/utah-doctors-intermountain-medical-center-among-nation-first-new-liver-transplant-method-save-lives/. Accessed December 16, 2016.