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Infections Post Transplant

Hepatitis C virus in long-term bone marrow transplant survivors

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 33, pages 1181–1185 (2004)Cite this article

Summary:

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may change the outcome of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of the HCV antibody in patients who were alive 10 or more years after BMT, defining the annual progression rate of hepatic fibrosis in those patients, and identifying cases of cirrhosis among those who were positive for HCV antibody. Between 1979 and 1990, 259 patients had a bone marrow transplant, and 91 were alive in March 2000. Of those, 80 were included in the study after having been scanned for serum HCV antibodies. A total of 39 were positive (48.8%), one was indeterminate and 40 were negative (50%). The patients who were HCV positive or undetermined were called for a medical appointment and 22 (55%) attended. A total of 16 patients (72.7%) were male, the mean age was 37.8±9.2 years and all of them had had an allogeneic transplant. Of the 22 patients studied, 12 (54.5%) agreed to have a liver biopsy. Hepatic fibrosis was diagnosed in 10 patients. The hepatic fibrosis annual progression rate was 0.156 UF/year. Among the anti-HCV-positive patients assessed, three (13.6%) already had cirrhosis.

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Acknowledgements

Dr George McDonald, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle; Dr Eliane Ribeiro Carmes, Curitiba; Dr Maria Lúcia Pedroso, HC-UFPR, Curitiba; Sueli Nakatani, Coordinator of the Molecular Biology Sector of LACEN, Curitiba; Dr Margaret Ono, Head of the Serology Lab of HC-UFPR, Curitiba; Dr Noemi Farah Pereira, Head of the Immunogenetics Lab of the HC-UFPR, Curitiba; and Roche Diagnostics for the financial support for carrying out the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Internal Medicine Department, Gastroenterology Unit, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    C A P Ivantes & H Amarante

  2. Pathology Department, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    S O Ioshii

  3. Internal Medicine Department, Bone Marrow Transplant Service, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    R Pasquini

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  1. C A P Ivantes
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  4. R Pasquini
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Correspondence to H Amarante.

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Ivantes, C., Amarante, H., Ioshii, S. et al. Hepatitis C virus in long-term bone marrow transplant survivors. Bone Marrow Transplant 33, 1181–1185 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1704519

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