Liver Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Liver Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Short-term high-dose followed by long-term low-dose hepatitis B immunoglobulin and lamivudine therapy prevented recurrent hepatitis B after liver transplantation.

Takaki A, Yagi T, Iwasaki Y, Sadamori H, Matsukawa H, Matsuda H, Shinoura S, Umeda Y, Miyake Y, Terada R, Kobashi H, Sakaguchi K, Tanaka N, Shiratori Y

Department of Gastroenterology, Transplant and Surgical Oncology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama City, Japan. akitaka@md.okayama-u.ac.jp

Hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg) and lamivudine combination has been accepted as the best way to control hepatitis B recurrence after liver transplantation. However, the optimal dose of HBIg and the target titer of hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) remain unclear. We report our satisfactory experience with high-dose HBIg in the early period followed by low-dose HBIg with lamivudine. Subjects comprised five patients with fulminant hepatitis (FH) and 18 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) who underwent liver transplantation. HBIg at a dosage of 200 IU/kg per day was administered for one week postoperatively. Thereafter, HBIg was administered only for HBsAb titer <100 IU/L. After six months, HBIg was withdrawn in FH and administered in LC only for HBsAb titer <10 IU/L. Lamivudine was administered to two FH and all LC cases. Although two patients with LC showed transient hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) recurrence, all patients remained HBsAg-negative at the final follow-up date. This method allows reliable and cost-effective control of hepatitis B recurrence.

Published 31 January 2007 in Transplantation, 83(2): 231-3.
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