Liver transplantation (LT) from donors‐with‐HIV to recipients‐with‐HIV (HIV D+/R+) is permitted under the HOPE Act. There are only three international single‐case reports of HIV D+/R+ LT, each with limited follow‐up. We performed a prospective multicenter pilot study comparing HIV D+/R+ to donors‐without‐HIV to recipients‐with‐HIV (HIV D−/R+) LT. We quantified patient survival, graft survival, rejection, serious adverse events (SAEs), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) breakthrough, infections, and malignancies, using Cox and negative binomial regression with inverse probability of treatment weighting. Between March 2016–July 2019, there were 45 LTs (8 simultaneous liver‐kidney) at 9 centers: 24 HIV D+/R+, 21 HIV D−/R+ (10 D− were false‐positive). The median follow‐up time was 23 months. Median recipient CD4 was 287 cells/µL with 100% on antiretroviral therapy; 56% were hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐seropositive, 13% HCV‐viremic. Weighted 1‐year survival was 83.3% versus 100.0% in D+ versus D− groups (p = .04). There were no differences in one‐year graft survival (96.0% vs. 100.0%), rejection (10.8% vs. 18.2%), HIV breakthrough (8% vs. 10%), or SAEs (all p > .05). HIV D+/R+ had more opportunistic infections, infectious hospitalizations, and cancer. In this multicenter pilot study of HIV D+/R+ LT, patient and graft survival were better than historical cohorts, however, a potential increase in infections and cancer merits further investigation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.