Kidney Failure - Hepatitis & transplant

Author

Hepatitis & transplant

Charles Torrisi

2006-08-02, 8:26 am

My son just went in to Boston and had his final visit with the
transplant team yesteday and now they are telling him he needs one more
test before going on the list. Back when he was in the service, he
contracted hepatitis and was hospitalized, but it seems that virus stays
with you for life, even though it is under control, never had another
bout with it, and has taken anitibody shots and vaccine shots. Now they
told him yesterday, he needed one more blood test, and perhaps a liver
biopsy, I guess to determine if there is any damage. Is that going to
minimize his chances for a transplant or even prevent him from getting
one? How is that going to affect a transplant if and when the biopsy
shows no liver damage? Ange

Have a great day!!

Michael Jameson

2006-09-16, 4:26 pm

Charles Torrisi wrote:

> My son just went in to Boston and had his final visit with the
> transplant team yesteday and now they are telling him he needs one more
> test before going on the list. Back when he was in the service, he
> contracted hepatitis and was hospitalized, but it seems that virus stays
> with you for life, even though it is under control, never had another
> bout with it, and has taken anitibody shots and vaccine shots. Now they
> told him yesterday, he needed one more blood test, and perhaps a liver
> biopsy, I guess to determine if there is any damage. Is that going to
> minimize his chances for a transplant or even prevent him from getting
> one? How is that going to affect a transplant if and when the biopsy
> shows no liver damage? Ange
>
> Have a great day!!

I don't know what sort of Hepatitis your son has, and that might well make
a difference. I can tell you my own situation with HepC.

I'm in Australia. I contracted HepC in 1985, in a blood transfusion when I
started haemodialysis. The HepC has never been very active - just grumbling
along. I had a transplant in 1990 and the HepC was not considered a problem
at that time. The transplant failed in 1997; nothing to do with the HepC as
far as I know. I had a brief stint on peritoneal dialysis and I've been on
haemodialysis again since then.

In 1999 I discussed going on the transplant list with my nephrologist. At
that time the transplant team in my region felt that there was strong
evidence against transplanting someone with HepC. They interpreted the
evidence at that time as indicating that transplant recipients with HepC
had more complications and the transplants did not last as long. Their
policy was that if you had HepC you had to try everything you could to get
rid of it before they'd put you on the list.

However, I've recently discussed this again with both my nephrologist and
the head of the transplant team. Their opinion has changed, in several ways
for several reasons. One change is that they've found that some HepC
transplant recipients who have received HepC organs have done well - yes,
deliberately transplanting a kidney from someone else who had HepC. Another
change was the recognition that the HepC recipients tended, on average, to
be less compliant than other patients with taking meds, exercising,
non-smoking etc. The non-compliance might have been responsible for the
poor results, not the HepC.

The current attitude in my region is that HepC patients can go on the
transplant list as long as one test comes back good. This test basically
just measures the liver's response to immune suppression. as long as that
test doesn't indicate that the HepC is likely to flare up under
immunosuppression, you're okay for the transplant list.

Good luck.

Michael Jameson.
--
"You are the music while the music lasts" - Antonio Damasio after TS Eliot.

Riona

2006-09-23, 2:32 am

Michael Jameson wrote:
>
> However, I've recently discussed this again with both my nephrologist and
> the head of the transplant team. Their opinion has changed, in several ways
> for several reasons. One change is that they've found that some HepC
> transplant recipients who have received HepC organs have done well - yes,
> deliberately transplanting a kidney from someone else who had HepC. Another
> change was the recognition that the HepC recipients tended, on average, to
> be less compliant than other patients with taking meds, exercising,
> non-smoking etc. The non-compliance might have been responsible for the
> poor results, not the HepC.
>
> The current attitude in my region is that HepC patients can go on the
> transplant list as long as one test comes back good. This test basically
> just measures the liver's response to immune suppression. as long as that
> test doesn't indicate that the HepC is likely to flare up under
> immunosuppression, you're okay for the transplant list.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Michael Jameson.
> --
=======================
Hello Micheal
I am new to this group.

I read your post and needed to reply.
My husbsand is in the same situation as yourself. He is a dialysis
patient who contracted hepC between 1980 and 88 medically acquired. He
had his transplant that last for 17 years and he is currently back on
dialysis ( hemo) since 2003. He has been told recently the same thing
about the hepC donors/recipients.
He did have the interferon therapy while doing dialysis before going
back on the transplant list, but it didn't work. He is classed as a non
responder. He has stage 2 fibrosis,grade 3 inflammation of the liver.
I was wondering if you know what the test is that they use to determine
if the hepC is likely to flare up under immunosuppression? Also do
you know of anyone that has had one of these transplant from a hepC
positive donor? I wondering about super infection of the hepC taking
place because of the immunosuppression....

thank you.
Riona.