Simultaneous splenectomy during liver transplantation augments anti-viral therapy in patients infected with hepatitis C virus

Heng-Cheng Chu, Chung-Bao Hsieh, Kuo-Feng Hsu, Hsiu-Lung Fan, Tsai-Yuan Hsieh, Teng-Wei Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background Simultaneous splenectomy in liver transplantation (LT) is selectively indicated because of splenoportal venous thromboses and increased sepsis. Therefore, its impact should be further investigated. Methods Of the 160 liver transplant patients, only 40 underwent simultaneous splenectomy. Clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes were compared between the splenectomy and non-splenectomy group using retrospective analysis. Results Although the groups were similar and had no significant difference in the intra- and postoperative data, non-splenectomy group had more male patients. However, splenectomy group showed significantly higher platelet and leukocyte counts at 1 month and 6 months after the transplantation and higher hepatitis C virus anti-viral therapy completion. Furthermore, 3 patients developed portal or splenic vein thrombosis during the postoperative follow-up, but the overall survival rate did not significantly differ between these groups. Conclusion Simultaneous splenectomy in LT can be safely performed, particularly in patients with hepatitis C virus cirrhosis, small-for-size grafts, hypersplenism, and ABO blood group incompatible (ABO - incompatible) LT. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)180-186
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican Journal of Surgery
Volume209
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anti-viral therapy
  • Liver transplantation
  • Splenectomy
  • Splenectomy complication
  • Sustained viral response
  • interferon
  • ribavirin
  • alpha interferon
  • antivirus agent
  • macrogol derivative
  • peginterferon alpha2a
  • peginterferon alpha2b
  • recombinant protein
  • adult
  • antiviral therapy
  • Article
  • clinical feature
  • female
  • follow up
  • hepatitis C
  • Hepatitis C virus
  • human
  • leukocyte count
  • liver function
  • liver transplantation
  • major clinical study
  • male
  • overall survival
  • portal vein thrombosis
  • splenectomy
  • splenic vein
  • thrombocyte count
  • comparative study
  • complication
  • drug administration
  • drug combination
  • evaluation study
  • Hepatitis C, Chronic
  • hypersplenism
  • liver cirrhosis
  • middle aged
  • multimodality cancer therapy
  • retrospective study
  • treatment outcome
  • virology
  • Adult
  • Antiviral Agents
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Drug Administration Schedule
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Hypersplenism
  • Interferon-alpha
  • Liver Cirrhosis
  • Liver Transplantation
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Ribavirin
  • Treatment Outcome

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