Study: Tapering Off Steroids Soon After Liver Transplant Does Not Up Risk

Researchers from Milan have reported new study results concluding that tapering off steroids for liver transplant recipients starting as early as three months after surgery does not increase the risk of recurrent hepatitis C.

The report, published in the journal Liver Transplantation, runs counter to a report last year by Bologna researchers who concluded that in hepatitis C-infected liver transplant recipients, long-term treatment with corticosteroids might prevent the more aggressive forms of recurrent liver disease.

The Milan researchers said that in a study involving 42 liver patients who were hepatitis C virus positive and had cirrhosis, 18 were given long-term treatment with steroids and 24 had their steroids tapered off over a period of 2 months starting 3 months after their transplant.

"After a median follow up of 8 years, we could not see differences in terms of disease progression between the two patients groups," the researchers reported.

"From our experience based on a small number of hepatitis C virus transplantation patients followed up prospectively for a mean of 8 years under strict histologic surveillance, steroids can be safely withdrawn starting 3 months after liver transplantation," the Milan researchers concluded.

Other Sources: Liver Transplantation (February 2003)