Akira Mori, Toshimi Kaido, Yasuhiro Ogura, Kohei Ogawa, Koichiro Hata, Shintaro Yagi, Atsushi Yoshizawa, Hiroyoshi Isoda, Toshiya Shibata, Shinji Uemoto – 17 January 2012 – An outflow obstruction of the hepatic vein is a critical complication after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) and occasionally leads to hepatic failure. Here we introduce a simple method for preventing outflow obstructions by patch plasty in adult LDLT. Between September 2001 and May 2010, 468 adult LDLT procedures were performed at Kyoto University Hospital.

Mitra K. Nadim, Yuri S. Genyk, Chris Tokin, Jenny Fieber, Wanwarat Ananthapanyasut, Wei Ye, Rick Selby – 17 January 2012 – Acute kidney injury (AKI) at the time of liver transplantation (LT) has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In patients with potentially reversible renal dysfunction, predicting whether there will be sufficient return of native kidney function is sometimes difficult. Previous studies have focused mainly on the effect of the severity of renal dysfunction or the duration of pretransplant dialysis on posttransplant outcomes.

Rafael San‐Juan, Jose Maria Aguado – 17 January 2012

Jason J. Schwartz, Lisa Pappas, Heather F. Thiesset, Gabriela Vargas, John B. Sorensen, Robin D. Kim, William R. Hutson, Kenneth Boucher, Terry Box – 17 January 2012 – Current liver allocation policy in the United States grants liver transplant candidates with stage T2 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) a priority Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score of 22, regardless of age.

Asunción Moreno, Carlos Cervera, Antonio Rimola, Jose M. Miró – 12 January 2012

Richard S. Mangus, Jonathan A. Fridell, Rodrigo M. Vianna, Paul Y. Kwo, Jeanne Chen, A. Joseph Tector – 12 January 2012 – Rabbit anti‐thymocyte globulin (rATG)–based immunosuppression induction is being increasingly used in liver transplantation (LT) in conjunction with steroid‐free protocols to delay the initiation of calcineurin inhibitors. This study reports a single‐center comparison of transplant outcomes and complications in 3 immunosuppression eras. Data were obtained retrospectively from a center research database, and the analysis included LT patients from 2001 to 2008.

Marina Knight, Kerri Barber, Alex Gimson, Dave Collett, James Neuberger, for the Liver Advisory Group of National Health Service Blood Transplant – 12 January 2012 – The limited availability of livers donated by deceased donors for transplantation means that not everyone who might benefit from the procedure can receive a graft, so any selection and allocation system must have clearly defined goals. The United Kingdom, in common with many other countries, has adopted a minimum benefit criterion of a greater than 50% probability of survival 5 years after transplantation.

Hacer Sahin, Erawan Borkham‐Kamphorst, Christoph Kuppe, Mirko Moreno Zaldivar, Christoph Grouls, Muhammad Al‐samman, Andreas Nellen, Petra Schmitz, Daniel Heinrichs, Marie‐Luise Berres, Dennis Doleschel, David Scholten, Ralf Weiskirchen, Marcus J. Moeller, Fabian Kiessling, Christian Trautwein, Hermann E. Wasmuth – 12 January 2012 – Recent data suggest that the chemokine receptor CXCR3 is functionally involved in fibroproliferative disorders, including liver fibrosis.

Lauren K. Dunn, Robert H. Thiele, Jennie Z. Ma, Robert G. Sawyer, Edward C. Nemergut – 12 January 2012 – Liver transplantation may be complicated by massive intraoperative bleeding, and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions may be required. The storage duration or age of transfused RBCs has been shown to affect the morbidity and mortality of critically ill, trauma, and cardiac surgery patients. Here we investigate the effect of RBC age on the outcomes of liver transplant patients.

Janett Fischer, Stephan Böhm, Markus Scholz, Tobias Müller, Heiko Witt, Jacob George, Christoph Sarrazin, Simone Susser, Eckart Schott, Vijayaprakash Suppiah, David R. Booth, Graeme J. Stewart, Florian van Bömmel, Annika Brodzinski, Balazs Fülöp, Pascal Migaud, Thomas Berg – 11 January 2012 – In patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, several variants of the interleukin‐28B (IL28B) gene have been shown to correlate significantly with a sustained virologic response (SVR).