Wojciech Rudzinski, Alfonso H. Waller, Amit Prasad, Sunita Sood, Christine Gerula, Arun Samanta, Baburao Koneru, Marc Klapholz – 5 December 2011 – The inability to achieve 85% of the maximum predicted heart rate (MPHR) on dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) is defined as chronotropic incompetence and is a predictor of major cardiac events after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The majority of patients with end‐stage liver disease (ESLD) receive beta‐blockers for the prevention of variceal bleeding.

Varun Saxena, Jennifer C. Lai, Jacqueline G. O'Leary, Elizabeth C. Verna, Robert S. Brown, R. Todd Stravitz, James F. Trotter, Kartik Krishnan, Norah A. Terrault, for the Consortium to Study Health Outcomes in HCV Liver Transplant Recipients – 5 December 2011 – African American (AA) recipient‐donor race mismatch has been associated with graft loss and mortality, but studies of an association between race mismatch and hepatitis C virus (HCV) disease severity are lacking.

Lakhbir Sandhu, Charbel Sandroussi, Markus Guba, Markus Selzner, Anand Ghanekar, Mark S. Cattral, Ian D. McGilvray, Gary Levy, Paul D. Greig, Eberhard L. Renner, David R. Grant – 5 December 2011 – Several studies have reported higher rates of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) versus deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT). It is unclear whether this difference is due to a specific biological effect unique to the LDLT procedure or to other factors such as patient selection.

Benjamin L. Shneider – 5 December 2011 – Sclerosing cholangitis, an uncommon disorder in children, is progressive and is, therefore, an important indication for pediatric liver transplantation. This review summarizes current challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of this rare form of pediatric liver disease. Liver Transpl 18:277–281, 2012. © 2011 AASLD.

Umberto Baccarani, Stefania Bidinost, Marcello Tavio, Pierluigi Viale, Gian Luigi Adani – 5 December 2011

Vanessa Sauer, Ramsi Siaj, Sandra Stöppeler, Ralf Bahde, Hans‐Ullrich Spiegel, Gabriele Köhler, Andree Zibert, Hartmut H.‐J. Schmidt – 5 December 2011 – The outcome of consecutive hepatocyte transplants was explored in a rat model of Wilson's disease before the onset of fulminant hepatitis without preconditioning regimens. Rats received a high‐copper diet in order to induce a rapid induction of liver failure. Sham‐operated rats (15/15) developed jaundice and fulminant hepatitis, and they died within 4 weeks of first transplantation.

Richard Ruiz, Koji Tomiyama, Jeffrey Campsen, Robert M. Goldstein, Marlon F. Levy, Greg J. McKenna, Nicholas Onaca, Brian Susskind, Glenn W. Tillery, Goran B. Klintmalm – 5 December 2011 – Whether a positive crossmatch result has any relevance to liver transplantation (LT) outcomes remains controversial. We assessed the impact of a positive crossmatch result on patient and graft survival and posttransplant complications. During a 20‐year period, 2723 LT procedures with crossmatch results were identified: 2479 primary transplants and 244 retransplants.

Corlan O. Adebajo, Jayant A. Talwalkar, John J. Poterucha, W. Ray Kim, Michael R. Charlton – 5 December 2011 – Ultrasound‐based transient elastography (TE) is a promising noninvasive alternative to liver biopsy for the detection of hepatic fibrosis due to recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) after liver transplantation (LT). However, its overall test performance in various settings remains unknown.

Nicole T. do O, Dennis Eurich, Petra Schmitz, Maximilian Schmeding, Christoph Heidenhain, Marcus Bahra, Christian Trautwein, Peter Neuhaus, Ulf P. Neumann, Hermann E. Wasmuth – 5 December 2011 – Fibrosis recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a universal event and strongly determines a patient's prognosis. The recipient risk factors for fibrosis recurrence are still poorly defined. Here we assess a genetic risk score as a predictor of fibrosis after LT.

Monica Franciosi, Lucio Caccamo, Paolo De Simone, Antonio Daniele Pinna, Giovanni Giuseppe Di Costanzo, Riccardo Volpes, Vincenzo Scuderi, Paolo Strignano, Patrizia Boccagni, Patrizia Burra, Antonio Nicolucci, for the TWINS I Study Group – 5 December 2011 – To date, there is still a lack of instruments for specifically assessing the impact of anti–hepatitis B virus prophylaxis after liver transplantation (LT) on health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) and treatment satisfaction.