Anti-erythropoietin antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia in a living donor liver transplant recipient treated for hepatitis C virus.

After liver transplantation, reinfection of the newly engrafted liver with hepatitis C virus is essentially universal in patients who are viremic at the time of transplantation. Treatment with interferon preparations with or without ribavirin is recommended in patients with marked histologic injury; however, hematologic toxicity associated with therapy has been reported, which is usually treated with growth factor support, including erythropoietin analogues. We present the first reported case of anti-erythropoietin antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia arising in the setting of hepatitis C virus therapy in a patient who underwent living donor liver transplantation. (c) 2007 AASLD.