Hepatitis C and renal transplantation: a review on historical aspects and current issues

Chronic liver disease has a significant impact on the survival of renal transplant recipients with an incidence rate of 4–38%. Approximately, 8–28% of renal transplant recipients die due to chronic liver disease. Hepatitis C seems to be the leading cause of chronic liver disease in kidney recipients. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has a wide range of prevalence (2.6–66%) among renal transplant recipients living in different countries with great genotype diversity in different parts of the world. Nowadays, antiviral drugs are used for the management of hepatitis C. Because of graft‐threatening effects of some antiviral drugs used in HCV‐infected renal transplant recipients, we specifically focused on HCV treatment after renal transplantation. Treatment of post‐renal transplantation chronic liver disease with INF and ribavirin remains controversial. Anecdotal reports on post‐renal transplantation hepatitis C demonstrate encouraging findings. This review summarises the most current information on diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, complications as well as the new aspects of treatment in HCV‐infected renal transplant recipients. HCV belongs to the family of Flaviviridae, genus Hepacivirus. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.