HCC recurrence in HCV‐infected patients after liver transplantation: SiLVER Study reveals benefits of sirolimus in combination with CNIs – a post‐hoc analysis

Summary Factors affecting outcomes in liver transplant (LTx) recipients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection include the choice of immunosuppression. Here, we analyzed the HCV+ subgroup of patients from the randomized controlled, international SiLVER Study. We performed a post hoc analysis of 166 HCV+ SiLVER Study patients regarding HCC outcome after LTx. Control patients (group A: n = 88) received mTOR inhibitor (mTORi)‐free, calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)‐based versus sirolimus‐based immunosuppression (group B: n = 78). We found no significant difference regarding HCV‐RNA titers between group A and B. Since no effect in group B could be due to variable sirolimus dosing, we split group B into patients receiving sirolimus‐based immunosuppression + CNIs for >50% (B1; n = 44) or