Blood eosinophilia after living donor liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis

BACKGROUND: Differentiating between acute cellular rejection (ACR) and recurrent hepatitis C virus after liver transplantation in hepatitis C virus-positive patients is difficult, but vital for preventing graft loss. METHODS: The blood eosinophil counts 3 days before or on the day of biopsy were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate their value for predicting ACR in 91 biopsy samples from 45 patients. RESULTS: Eosinophil counts on the day of biopsy were significantly higher in the ACR group (n = 20) than in the non-ACR (n = 71) group, although the difference was negligible 3 days before the biopsy. A relative eosinophil count of 2% or an absolute eosinophil count of 200 cells/mm(3) predicted ACR with a specificity of 94% or 96%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Blood eosinophil count on the day of biopsy can be helpful in the diagnosis of ACR in patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation for hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis.