Giovanni Vizzini, Monica Asaro, Roberto Miraglia, Salvatore Gruttadauria, Daniela Filì, Adele D'Antoni, Ioannis Petridis, Gianluca Marrone, Duilio Pagano, Bruno Gridelli – 18 July 2011 – Central nervous system (CNS) complications are common after liver transplantation (LT). According to the literature, the most common causes are infections and the neurotoxicity of immunosuppressive drugs (cyclosporine and tacrolimus).

Fredrik Åberg, Suvi Mäklin, Pirjo Räsänen, Risto P. Roine, Harri Sintonen, Anna‐Maria Koivusalo, Krister Höckerstedt, Helena Isoniemi – 18 July 2011 – Cost issues in liver transplantation (LT) have received increasing attention, but the cost‐utility is rarely calculated. We compared costs per quality‐adjusted life year (QALY) from the time of placement on the LT waiting list to 1 year after transplantation for 252 LT patients and to 5 years after transplantation for 81 patients.

Mustafa Ates, Abuzer Dirican, Dincer Ozgor, Cemalettin Aydin, Burak Isik, Cengiz Ara, Mehmet Yilmaz, M. Ayse Selimoglu, Cuneyt Kayaalp, Sezai Yilmaz – 14 July 2011 – Yellow phosphorus is a protoplasmic toxicant that targets the liver. The ingestion of fireworks containing yellow phosphorus, either by children who accidentally consume them or by adults who are attempting suicide, often results in death due to acute liver failure (ALF). We present the outcomes of 10 children who ingested fireworks containing yellow phosphorus.

Diarmaid D. Houlihan, Matthew J. Armstrong, Yana Davidov, James Hodson, Peter Nightingale, Ian A. Rowe, Sue Paris, Bridget K. Gunson, Simon B. Bramhall, David J. Mutimer, James M. Neuberger, Philip N. Newsome – 14 July 2011 – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is an independent risk factor for chronic kidney injury (CKI), yet the impact of liver transplantation (LT) on renal function in this at‐risk group is not known. We compared the post‐LT renal function of patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and a matched comparison group.

Kymberly D. Watt – 14 July 2011 – Key Points

Shao Fa Wang, Zhi Yong Huang, Xiao Ping Chen – 14 July 2011 – Biliary complications occur more frequently after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) versus deceased donor liver transplantation, and they remain the most common and intractable problems after LDLT. The anatomical limitations of multiple tiny bile ducts and the differential blood supplies of the graft ducts may be significant factors in the pathophysiological mechanisms of biliary complications in patients undergoing LDLT.

Michela Giusto, Maria Rodriguez, Laia Navarro, Angel Rubin, Victoria Aguilera, Fernando San‐Juan, Cecilia Ortiz, Rafael López‐Andujar, Martín Prieto, Marina Berenguer – 14 July 2011 – In the immunocompetent setting, antiviral therapy–related anemia has recently been shown to be associated with a sustained virological response (SVR). Our goal was to assess whether this is also true for liver transplantation (LT).

Josh Levitsky – 14 July 2011 – Key Points

Lucy Golden‐Mason, Kiran M. Bambha, Linling Cheng, Charles D. Howell, Milton W. Taylor, Paul J. Clark, Nezam Afdhal, Hugo R. Rosen, on behalf of the Virahep‐C Study Group – 11 July 2011 – Natural killer (NK) cells constitute a first line of defense against viral infections; their function is governed by the integration of signals from multiple activating and inhibitory surface receptors. We hypothesized that because NKs become rapidly activated by cytokines, response to anti‐hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy would be predicted by the phenotype and function of NKs.

Danny Ka Ho Wong, Fung Yu Huang, Ching Lung Lai, Ronnie Tung Ping Poon, Wai Kay Seto, James Fung, Ivan Fan Ngai Hung, Man Fung Yuen – 11 July 2011 – We aimed to investigate the incidence of occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) in patients with “cryptogenic” hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to study the HBV replicative activity in these patients. Tumorous and adjacent nontumorous liver tissues were obtained from 33 cryptogenic HCC patients and 28 HCC patients with identifiable causes (13 with chronic hepatitis B [CHB], six with chronic hepatitis C, and nine alcohol‐related).