Hepatitis C and dialysis

Hi all,

I have been HCV positive for the last 4 years. I was wondering what the prognosis was for folks on dialysis with HCV. I read somewhere that people with HCV not on dialysis proceed to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma and eventually require a liver transplant. For people on dialysis, this period is much shorter - around 5 to 10 years. Is this really true?

What happens if you can’t get a liver transplant?

Thanks
Kamal

[B]Hi Kamal,

sorry for late reply… check your PM…[/B]

[QUOTE=kamalshah20;19000]Hi all,

I have been HCV positive for the last 4 years. I was wondering what the prognosis was for folks on dialysis with HCV. I read somewhere that people with HCV not on dialysis proceed to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma and eventually require a liver transplant. For people on dialysis, this period is much shorter - around 5 to 10 years. Is this really true?

What happens if you can’t get a liver transplant?

Thanks
Kamal
http://kamaldshah.com[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kamalshah20;19000]Hi all,

I have been HCV positive for the last 4 years. I was wondering what the prognosis was for folks on dialysis with HCV. I read somewhere that people with HCV not on dialysis proceed to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma and eventually require a liver transplant. For people on dialysis, this period is much shorter - around 5 to 10 years. Is this really true?

What happens if you can’t get a liver transplant?

Thanks
Kamal
http://kamaldshah.com[/QUOTE]

Hello Kamal,

Hep C is a very slow moving disease usually. Dialysis patients can move to liver cirrhosis or liver cancer just like others do, not sure if the time is shorter. I think that it might depend on what genotype you have. From what I have read over the years Genotypes 2 and 3 move quicker to cirrhosis than genotypes 1.

There is a treatment for hep C. ‘Interferon and Ribraviron’. Dialysis patients can’t use Ribroviron as it is cleared by the kidneys ( I don’t think this study was done on dialysis patients who dialyse every day for long hours) . More studies would need to be done I think. And you would need to be a very brave person to undergo such a grueling treatment, if doctors allowed it.

Some dialysis patients will clear the virus if they are treated with the interferon therapy alone and others won’t. If you are considering this, then it is best to go through this treatment while on dialysis because it isn’t allowed if you have a kidney transplant as it will be rejected.

Some people still have kidney transplants even with the hep C diagnoses, if that isn’t possible in your case. Then it might be possible to get a kidney/liver transplant- however I think they wait until your liver is very sick before doing that. I hope this helps a little.

Its an insidious unpredictable disease.
cheers
Pauline.

Hi Pauline,

Thanks so much for your response. I did treat with Peginterferon and no ribavirin. It did not work however. My genotype is 3.

Thanks
Kamal