Liver Transplant for Hepatitis B
Topic Overview
During a liver transplant, a surgeon removes your damaged liver. That liver is replaced with a healthy one from an organ donor.
Liver transplants are done to treat long-term (chronic) hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection only after all other treatments have not worked. That's because transplanted organs can become reinfected with HBV.
- Infections that come back are often severe. This can lead to rapid failure of the transplanted liver.
- High doses of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) are given to try to prevent reinfection.
- Short-term pre- and post-transplant therapy with a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) may help prevent reinfection of a transplanted liver. NRTIs include entecavir, lamivudine, and tenofovir.footnote 1 Interferon and peginterferon are not used to prevent reinfection.footnote 1
Liver transplants are most often done at large medical centers. Transplants are very expensive.
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ByHealthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer W. Thomas London, MD - Hepatology
Current as ofNovember 18, 2017
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Current as of: November 18, 2017
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review: Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine & W. Thomas London, MD - Hepatology