In the pre-DAA era, the dogma was to treat HCV pre-transplant for two reasons: active HCV increases post-transplant hepatic complications, NODAT, and decreases patient and graft survival and that IFN cannot be used post-transplant because of higher risk…
The Burden of Hepatitis C The estimated global Hepatitis C viral infection (HCV) burden was slashed down to 71 million by the WHO in 2015, from the earlier estimate of 130-150 million, after Rao et all showed that…
Hepatitis C infection is a major public health issue, affecting approximately 2.8% of the world’s population (>185 million people worldwide). Approximately 250,000 Canadians were living with chronic hepatitis C as of 2011.Specifically in the hemodialysis population,DOPPS data estimated…
You have probably noticed the flurry of articles published this week in the NEJM, coinciding with the International Liver Congress meeting in London, reporting incredible results with new direct-acting antiviral agents in Hepatitis C. This is undoubtedly one…
Prior HBV infection is not a contraindication to kidney transplantation. It is critical to evaluate patients with serologies and HBV DNA viral load prior to transplant. Most patients should also undergo liver transplant biopsy to exclude significant fibrosis/cirrhosis. Patients with…
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects more than 180 million people globally, may lead to renal disease and is prevalent in 11-49% of patients with end-stage renal disease, depending on geographical location. With that picture in mind, we…
In general, when we are asked to evaluate a patient with liver disease for the development of acute renal failure, the three top differentials are usually: true hepatorenal syndrome, a prerenal picture (often 2/2 overdiuresis) and ATN. Cholemic…
The treatment of hepatitis C-induced cryoglobulinemia can be broken down into two different arms, both of which are usually necessary: 1. Antiviral Therapy, to get at the root-cause of the problem. 2. Immunosuppression Therapy, to prevent the acute…
Prior to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus (viral particles shown on the left), there was an entity termed “essential cryoglobulinemia”–that is, cryoglobulinemia without an obvious explanation. While this term is still used, the true “essential cryoglobulinemia”…
Hepatitis B–a disease which in the U.S. is on the decline due to regular childhood vaccinations–has a variety of interesting associations with renal disease. There are three distinct glomerular diseases with which the hepatitis B virus is associated….
