Fears linking donated livers from those aged over 60 with failure in hepatitis C patients have been discredited by a new study.
Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis carried out research into transplants of older donor’s livers and have suggested the practice is safe.
According to Archives of Surgery, researchers examined the survival rates of people who had been given new livers and, for short-term survivors, found no difference between those who had received organs from older people and those from newer.
Of the 489 adults studied over a nine-year period, 38.2 per cent were hepatitis C sufferers. Older people’s livers were given to 72 patients – of which 24 had hepatitis C.
"However, similar to other long-term transplant centers, we observed a negative effect from recurrent hepatitis C virus with a trend toward worsened long-term survival between years five and ten," the authors noted.
According to the American Liver Foundation, there are 30 million Americans affected by liver-related diseases.
