Liver Transplant From an ABO-Incompatible and Hepatitis C Antibody-Positive but an HCV-RNA Negative Living Donor in a Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy Patient

Abstract

Familial amyloid polyneuropathy is a rare, progressively disabling, and ultimately fatal inherited disease. Liver transplant is currently the only available treatment proven to halt the progression of familial amyloid polyneuropathy. We report a 31-year-old woman with familial amyloid polyneuropathy who received a living-donor liver transplant from her husband who was hepatitis C virus antibody-positive but HCV-RNA negative and ABO incompatible. Six years after the transplant, both donor and recipient have normal liver biochemistry results; no hepatitis C viral load has been detectable in the recipient. This is the first report of a living ABO-incompatible liver transplant from an anti-hepatitis C virus antibody-positive but an HCV-RNA negative donor. This experience suggests that the use of an anti-hepatitis C virus antibody-positive hepatic graft is possible in select circumstances.