Kidney Transplantation From Brain-Dead Donors With Hepatitis B or C in South Korea: A 2015 to 2020 Korean Organ Transplantation Registry Data Analysis.

Background: According to the current Center for Korean Network for Organ Sharing guidelines for kidney transplantation from brain-dead donors with hepatitis B or C infection, organs from hepatitis B surface antigen-positive (HbsAg ⁺ ) or anti-hepatitis C virus-positive (HCV ⁺ ) donors can only be transplanted into HBsAg ⁺ or anti-HCV ⁺ recipients. We aimed to confirm the status and the outcomes of kidney transplantation from brain-dead donors with hepatitis B or C virus in Korea.
Methods: This retrospective study included all kidney transplantations from brain-dead donors in the Korean Organ Transplantation Registry database between January 2015 and June 2020, divided into 3 groups according to donor hepatitis status. Finally, kidney transplantations from 80 HBV ⁺ , 12 HCV ⁺ , and 2013 HBV ^- /HCV ^- donors were included.
Results: No statistically significant differences were observed in the recipient characteristics and the transplant outcomes except the waiting time (HBV ⁺ to HBV ^- /HCV ^- , P < .001; HCV ⁺ to HBV ^- /HCV ^- , P = .10; HBV ⁺ to HCV ⁺ P = .95). Five-year graft survival rates of the HBV ⁺ , HCV ⁺ , and HBV ^- /HCV ^- recipients were 95%, 83%, and 85%, respectively (HBV ⁺ to HCV ⁺ , P = .22; HCV ⁺ to HBV ^- /HCV ^- , P = .81; HBV ⁺ to HBV ^- /HCV ^- , P = .02). Five-year patient survival rates of the HBV ⁺ , HCV ⁺ , and HBV ^- /HCV ^- recipients were 95%, 100%, and 76%, respectively (HBV ⁺ to HCV ⁺ , P = .61; HCV ⁺ to HBV ^- /HCV ^- , P = .13; HBV ⁺ to HBV ^- /HCV ^- , P < .001).
Conclusion: HBV ⁺ /HCV ⁺ brain-dead donor kidney transplantation outcomes were comparable to HBV ^- /HCV ^- . South Korea should consider conditionally permitting transplantation from HBV ⁺ or HCV ⁺ donors to HBV ^- or HCV ^- recipients to accumulate new data and conduct further studies.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)