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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Adult heart transplants from hepatitis C virus-positive (HCV+) donors appear safe, with no increased risk for adverse effects on one-year survival, according to a study published online Jan. 8 in the Journal of the American Heart Association<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Arman Kilic, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues examined the impact of HCV+ donors on outcomes of heart transplantation. Data were included for adults undergoing isolated heart transplantation in the United States from Jan. 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2018.<\/p>\n
Overall, 4.4 percent of the 7,889 isolated heart transplants performed during the study period were from HCV+ donors. The researchers observed no statistically significant difference in unadjusted one-year posttransplant survival between HCV\u2212 and HCV+ donors (91.1 versus 90.2 percent; P = 0.86); after risk adjustment, the finding was similar (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.70 to 1.58; P = 0.80). In a propensity-matched cohort of 675 well-balanced patients (437 HCV\u2212 and 238 HCV+), overall one-year posttransplant survival outcomes were not significantly different (89.8 percent HCV\u2212 versus 89.2 percent HCV+; P = 0.88). There were also no statistically significant differences between the groups in rates of one-year drug-treated rejection, postoperative dialysis, or stroke.<\/p>\n
“Refining management protocols related to HCV+ donor heart transplantation, along with education and expansion of these protocols to centers currently not using this potentially large pool of donors, appears warranted,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
One author disclosed financial ties to a medical device company and a second author disclosed ties to a pharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n
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