The advancement and availability of highly efficacious direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), allows the use of organs from HCV infected, nucleic acid testing (NAT)–positive donors in HCV-negative recipients. Introduction A scarcity of donor hearts and lungs limits the process of organ transplantation all over the world. In the United States, approximately 1000 patients die each year while waiting for these organs. However, organ transplantation has increased by 20% during the past 5 years, because of an increase in the number of available donors who died from a drug overdose.
Yet, many organs that are medically suitable for transplantation have not been used because of HCV infection in the donors. HCV is estimated to infect 2% to 3% of the global population, corresponding to 150–190 million people worldwide. Apart from acute infection, 55% to 85%…
