Liver transplantation : official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society
-
Donor shortage has led to the use of hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc)--positive (anti-HBc(+)) liver allografts for patients in need of relatively urgent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Because anti-HBc(+) allografts transmit hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection at a high rate, effective prophylaxis is required. We assessed the effectiveness of lamivudine in preventing HBV transmission by anti-HBc(+) allografts. ⋯ Hepatic HBV DNA was undetectable in the 7 patients in group 2 who underwent liver biopsy after OLT. Anti-HBc(+) allografts can be safely used in patients who undergo OLT for chronic hepatitis B and susceptible transplant recipients if prophylaxis with combination HBIG and lamivudine or lamividine alone is administered after OLT, respectively. However, more data are needed to determine the efficacy of lamivudine monotherapy in preventing transmission of HBV infection from anti-HBc(+) liver allografts to susceptible recipients.