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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2015; 21(26): 8140-8147
Published online Jul 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i26.8140
Published online Jul 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i26.8140
Liver transplantation for hepatitis B virus: Decreasing indication and changing trends
Waleed Al-hamoudi, Safiyya Ali, Abdurahman Bendahmash, Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia
Hussien Elsiesy, Nasser Al-masri, Mohammed Al Sofayan, Hamad Al Bahili, Mohammed Al Sebayel, Dieter Broering, Faisal Abaalkhail, Department of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh 11443, Saudi Arabia
Naglaa Allam, National Liver Institute, Menoufeya University, Menoufeya 15495, Egypt
Sammy Saab, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
Author contributions: Al-hamoudi W, Elsiesy H and Ali S designed the research; Bendahmash A, Al-masri N, Allam N, Al Sofayan M and Al Bahili H worked on data collection and data analysis; Al Sebayel M, Broering D, Saab S and Abaalkhail F contributed to performing the research; Al-hamoudi W wrote the manuscript; all authors approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by King Fiasal Specialist Hospital Institutional Review Board (IRB number 2151023).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no commercial affiliation or consultancy of an author that could be construed as a conflict of interest with respect to the submitted data.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Waleed Al-hamoudi, MD, Associate Professor, Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, PO Box 2925, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia. walhamoudi@gmail.com
Telephone: +966-11-4671404 Fax: +966-11-4671217
Received: December 17, 2014
Peer-review started: December 18, 2014
First decision: January 22, 2015
Revised: February 12, 2015
Accepted: April 16, 2015
Article in press: April 17, 2015
Published online: July 14, 2015
Peer-review started: December 18, 2014
First decision: January 22, 2015
Revised: February 12, 2015
Accepted: April 16, 2015
Article in press: April 17, 2015
Published online: July 14, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is considered hyperendemic in the Middle East. In the 1980s, the overall prevalence of HBV infection in Saudi Arabia was 8.3%, making it one of the most highly endemic areas in the world. This high prevalence made HBV-related disease a leading indication for liver transplantation (LT). The use of potent anti-HBV agents has led to a changing trend in the indications for LT. HBV is currently the third leading indication for LT in this hyperendemic area. Additionally, there has been a shift in the indication for transplantation from hepatic decompensation to hepatocellular carcinoma.