HCV viremic donors with hepatic bridging fibrosis: Are we ready to use their livers in the era of direct‐acting antivirals?

We read with interest the report from the American Society of Transplantation Consensus Conference on the use of hepatitis C (HCV) viremic donors in solid organ transplantation, which took place in Dallas in January 2017 (1). In the interferon-era, liver grafts from HCV-positive donors with no more than periportal fibrosis (F2 Ishak) did not show an outcome disadvantage compared with HCV-negative ones (2,3). In U.S., 16.9% of HCV-positive cirrhotics currently receive an organ from HCV-positive donors, 50% of whom are viremic and expected to transmit the infection (1). Considering the gap between organ demand and supply, the meeting participants felt that the availability of safe and effective direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) makes expansion of the criteria for transplanting HCV viremic organs into non-viremic recipients a possibility (1). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.