Excellent liver retransplantation outcomes in hepatitis C‐infected recipients

Survival outcomes for liver retransplantation ( LRT x) after graft loss in HCV patients ( HCV ‐ LRT x) are generally considered inferior to those after non‐ HCV ‐ LRT x. Between January 1, 2005 and June 30, 2011, our center performed 663 LT x, including 116 (17.5%) LRT x, 41 (35.3%) of which were more than 90 d after the LT x. Twenty‐nine (70.7%) LRT x were performed in HCV antibody–positive individuals. We compared patient demographics, baseline characteristics and outcomes of our HCV ‐ LRT x group with the HCV ‐ LRT x patients from the most recent OPTN database covering the same time period. Our Kaplan–Meier HCV ‐ LRT x one‐, three‐, and five‐yr HCV ‐ LRT x patient survival rates were 86.2%, 79.0%, and 72.4%, respectively compared with the OPTN one‐, three‐, and five‐yr HCV ‐ LRT x survival rates of 73.3%, 59.0%, and 51.3% respectively. Likewise, our graft survival rates were higher than OPTN rates at all time points studied. We performed a higher percentage of HCV ‐ LRT x as simultaneous liver/kidney transplants ( SLK ) (37.9% vs. 21.8%) and recorded shorter warm (30 ± 4 vs. 45 ± 23 min) and cold ischemic times (5:44 ± 1:53 vs. 7:36 ± 3:12 h:min). Conclusion: In our experience, HCV ‐ LRT x patient and graft survival rates are comparable to LT x survival rates and are higher than the rates described by OPTN .