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World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2020; 26(18): 2166-2176
Published online May 14, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i18.2166
Hepatitis B virus recurrence after liver transplantation: An old tale or a clear and present danger?
Ilaria Lenci, Martina Milana, Giuseppe Grassi, Tommaso M Manzia, Carlo Gazia, Giuseppe Tisone, Roberta Angelico, Leonardo Baiocchi
Ilaria Lenci, Martina Milana, Giuseppe Grassi, Leonardo Baiocchi, Hepatology and Liver Transplant Unit, University of Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy
Tommaso M Manzia, Carlo Gazia, Giuseppe Tisone, Roberta Angelico, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant, Department of Surgery, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy
Author contributions: Lenci I made the analysis and interpretation, and drafted the manuscript; Lenci I, Milana M, Grassi G, Manzia TM, Gazia C, Tisone G, and Angelico R made the acquisition of data and critical revision; Baiocchi L made the proposal of study, study conception, correction of manuscript and critical revision.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Leonardo Baiocchi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Hepatology and Liver Transplant Unit, University of Tor Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, Rome 00133, Italy. baiocchi@uniroma2.it
Received: February 11, 2020
Peer-review started: February 11, 2020
First decision: March 6, 2020
Revised: March 12, 2020
Accepted: April 30, 2020
Article in press: April 30, 2020
Published online: May 14, 2020
Core Tip

Core tip: Liver transplantation for hepatitis B virus (HBV) has greatly evolved in the last 50 years. Several studies contributed to establish efficient prophylactic protocols for HBV recurrence and with the advent of more potent anti-viral drugs an increased control of infection was achieved. In this review we examined in detail the results obtained in preventing HBV reappearance in liver transplanted patients and the possible future directions of research in this field.