TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dultz, Georg
A1  - Graubard, Barry I.
A1  - Martin, Paul
A1  - Welker, Martin-Walter
A1  - Vermehren, Johannes
A1  - Zeuzem, Stefan
A1  - McGlynn, Katherine A.
A1  - Welzel, Tania Mara
T1  - Liver transplantation for chronic hepatitis C virus infection in the United States 2002–2014 : an analysis of the UNOS/OPTN registry
T2  - PLoS one
N2  - Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in the U.S. We investigated characteristics of HCV-infected patients registered for OLT, and explored factors associated with mortality. Data were obtained from the United Network for Organ Sharing and Organ Procurement and Transplantation network (UNOS/OPTN) registry. Analyses included 41,157 HCV-mono-infected patients ≥18 years of age listed for cadaveric OLT between February 2002 and June 2014. Characteristics associated with pre- and post-transplant survival and time trends over the study period were determined by logistic and Cox proportional hazard regression analyses and Poisson regressions. Most patients were white (69.1%) and male (70.8%). At waitlist registration, mean age was 54.6 years and mean MELD was 16. HCC was recorded in 26.9% of the records. A total of 51.2% of the patients received an OLT, 21.0% died or were too sick; 15.6% were delisted and 10.4% were still waiting. Factors associated with increased waitlist mortality were older age, female gender, blood type 0, diabetes, no HCC and transplant region (p<0.001). OLT recipient characteristics associated with increased risk for post OLT mortality were female gender, age, diabetes, race (p<0,0001), and allocation MELD (p = 0.005). Donor characteristics associated with waitlist mortality included age, ethnicity (p<0.0001) and diabetes (p<0.03). Waitlist registrations and OLTs for HCC significantly increased from 14.4% to 37.3% and 27.8% to 38.5%, respectively (p<0.0001). Pre- and post-transplant survival depended on a variety of patient-, donor-, and allocation- characteristics of which most remain relevant in the DAA-era. Still, intensified HCV screening strategies and timely and effective treatment of HCV are highly relevant to reduce the burden of HCV-related OLTs in the U.S.
KW  - Liver transplantation
KW  - Diabetes mellitus
KW  - Liver diseases
KW  - Blood
KW  - Hepatitis C virus
KW  - Death rates
KW  - Hispanic people
KW  - Cirrhosis
Y1  - 2017
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45126
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-451268
SN  - 1932-6203
N1  - This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
VL  - 12
IS  - (10): e0186898
SP  - 1
EP  - 18
PB  - PLoS
CY  - Lawrence, Kan.
ER  -