Short Report
Liver transplant and hepatitis C in methadone maintenance therapy: a case report
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* Corresponding author: Meredith M Hancock mhancock@lumc.edu
1 Section of Transplant Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California Davis Medical Center, 4150 V Street, PSSB, Suite 3500, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
2 Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California Davis Medical Center, 4150 V Street, PSSB, Suite 3500, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
3 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California Davis Medical Center, 2230 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2007, 2:5 doi:10.1186/1747-597X-2-5
Published: 1 February 2007Abstract
Methadone maintenance therapy for the treatment of opioid dependence continues to carry a social stigma. Until recently, patients on methadone were not considered for liver transplantation. We describe the first case of a patient on methadone who received a liver transplant for end stage liver disease and was successfully treated for recurrent hepatitis C. More than five years post transplant and three years post viral clearance, the patient continues to do well and is stable on low-dose methadone. This case emphasizes the need to reconsider the non-evidence based policy adopted by transplant centers that require methadone maintenance therapy patients to stop methadone prior to consideration for transplant evaluation.