Impact of hepatitis B core antibody positive donors in lung and heart-lung transplantation: An analysis of the United network for organ sharing database

BACKGROUND.: The availability of suitable lung and heart-lung allografts for transplantation remains poor. Accepting organs from donors with positive serological studies for hepatitis B could potentially expand the donor pool. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of donor hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) status on outcomes of lung and heart-lung transplant recipients. METHODS.: Using United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data, we compared outcomes of 13,233 recipients of HBcAb negative organs with 333 recipients of HBcAb positive donor organs. RESULTS.: We found that the unadjusted 1-year survival of recipients of HBcAb positive donor was worse, but there was no difference in survival after adjusting for baseline donor and recipient differences. On multivariate analysis, recipient and donor age, procedure type, era of transplant, baseline medical condition, diagnosis, and donor hepatitis C antibody status impacted 1-and 5-year survival. However, donor HBcAb status did not impact 1-or 5-year survival posttransplant. CONCLUSIONS.: Lung and heart-lung allografts from HBcAb positive donors may be safely used, which would increase the number of transplants performed without compromising recipient outcomes.