The prevalence and clinical significance of hepatitis C virus infection in kidney transplant recipients

One hundred and twenty three renal transplant recipients were examined for the second generation anti-HCV antibody. The incidence of anti-HCV antibody positive patients was 27.6% (34/123) and among them 29 patients (85%) showed long-lasting abnormality in the serum ALT levels. All of the recipients with positive anti-HCV antibody were started dialysis before 1990. ALTs in the group of patients with positive anti-HCV antibody were significantly higher than those in group with negative antibody. The quantitative HCV-RNA analysis further demonstrated that the titer of HCV-RNA was not significantly correlated with ALT level. One of the HCV positive patients developed hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma 14 years after transplantation. Twelve years after renal transplantation, her serum ALT levels had been more than 100 IU/l and platelets counts had been less than 10 x 10(4)/mu l. The measurment of platelets counts and abdominal ultrasound examination might be useful for following up the posttransplant recipients with positive anti-HCV antibody.