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Post-Transplant Events

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus in allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipients

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 36, pages 709–713 (2005)Cite this article

Summary:

We recently reported an increased incidence of cirrhosis in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected stem cell transplant (SCT) recipients. Here, we describe our experience in the treatment of these patients, which has been, to date, poorly reported in the literature. Among 99 HCV-infected HCT recipients, 36 had HCV-related liver lesions on biopsy requiring therapy. Owing to HCV treatment contraindications, only 61% of patients (22/36) could be treated. In all, 12 patients received more than one course of anti-HCV treatment if they had HCV RNA still detectable after the first course of treatment and no treatment contraindications. Combined therapy (pegylated interferon (IFN): n=9, or standard IFN: n=9, in combination with ribavirin) led to sustained virological response in 4/18 (20%) patients as compared to 2/20 (10%) in patients who received IFN alone. Hematological toxicity was more frequent with combined therapy. While anemia responded to erythropoietin and/or dose modification, thrombocytopenia usually led to treatment interruption (n=3). This study thus highlights the efficacy of combined therapy and emphasizes the fact that the undue safety concerns are not a problem when treating this particular population.

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Author notes

  1. R Peffault de Latour and T Asselah: The first two authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service d'Hématologie – Greffe de Moelle Osseuse, et Université Paris VII, Hôpital Saint Louis, Paris Cedex, France

    R Peffault de Latour, A Devergie, P Ribaud, H Espérou, E Gluckman & G Socié

  2. Service d'Hépatologie, Hôpital Beaujon, Clichy, France

    T Asselah, D Valla & P Marcellin

  3. Centre d'Investigations Cliniques and INSERM ERM 321, Hôpital Saint Louis, France

    V Lévy

  4. Service de Virologie, Hôpital Saint Louis, Paris, France

    C Scieux

  5. Service d'Hémobiologie, Hôpital Saint Louis, Paris, France

    R Traineau

Authors
  1. R Peffault de Latour
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  2. T Asselah
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  3. V Lévy
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  4. C Scieux
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  5. A Devergie
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  6. P Ribaud
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  7. H Espérou
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  8. R Traineau
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  9. E Gluckman
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  10. D Valla
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  11. P Marcellin
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  12. G Socié
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to G Socié.

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Peffault de Latour, R., Asselah, T., Lévy, V. et al. Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus in allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipients. Bone Marrow Transplant 36, 709–713 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705120

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705120

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