Abstract

The current mismatch between supply of and demand for donor organs has prompted transplant clinicians to consider innovative solutions to broaden the donor pool. Despite a 10% increase in the number of organ donors available from 2015 to 2016, wait times remain unacceptable for the 4,000 patients listed for heart transplantation in the United States (US). (1) Many hearts that would otherwise be acceptable go unused because the donors have hepatitis C virus (HCV). Advancements and availability of highly efficacious and safe direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy for chronic HCV allows consideration of use of organs from viremic, nucleic acid testing (NAT) positive donors in HCV negative recipients. We describe Stanford's experience with using organs from HCV infected donors for heart transplantation and the associated ethical implications and programmatic planning required, as put forth in the recent American Society of Transplantation (AST) meeting report (May 2017).(2) This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

View details for PubMedID 29869354