Impact of Calcineurin Inhibitors on Hepatitis C Recurrence After Liver Transplantation

Background and Aims The aim of this retrospective study is to assess the impact of calcineurin inhibitors on hepatitis C virus recurrence following liver transplantation. Methods A total of 396 patients underwent liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus-induced liver disease between 1991 and 2005 at a single center. We examined the pre- and post-operative characteristics of patients who received either cyclosporine ( n = 126) or tacrolimus ( n = 270) as maintenance immunosuppression. In addition, we compared the postoperative course, including patient, graft and hepatitis C virus recurrence-free survival between the two groups. Results There were no significant differences between the two groups in either post-operative hepatitis C virus—ribonucleic acid or histological fibrosis score (performed within 6 months after transplant per protocol). The graft and patient survivals did not differ between the two groups (logrank p = 0.34 and 0.15, respectively). Histologic hepatitis C virus recurrence-free survival, however, was significantly higher in the cyclosporine group than in the tacrolimus group (55.4 vs. 30.8% at 1 year, 18.6 vs. 10.3% at 3 years, 16.7 vs. 8.1% at 5 years, p