Racial and ethnic disparities in access to liver transplantation

Amit K. Mathur, Douglas E. Schaubel, Qi Gong, Mary K. Guidinger, Robert M. Merion – 30 August 2010 – Access to liver transplantation is reportedly inequitable for racial/ethnic minorities, but inadequate adjustments for geography and disease progression preclude any meaningful conclusions. We aimed to evaluate the association between candidate race/ethnicity and liver transplant rates after thorough adjustments for these factors and to determine how uniform racial/ethnic disparities were across Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores.

Liver ischemia/reperfusion injury: Processes in inflammatory networks—A review

Mahmoud Abu‐Amara, Shi Yu Yang, Niteen Tapuria, Barry Fuller, Brian Davidson, Alexander Seifalian – 30 August 2010 – Liver ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is typified by an inflammatory response. Understanding the cellular and molecular events underpinning this inflammation is fundamental to developing therapeutic strategies. Great strides have been made in this respect recently. Liver IR involves a complex web of interactions between the various cellular and humoral contributors to the inflammatory response.

Stable overexpression of Pregnane X receptor in HepG2 cells increases its potential for bioartificial liver application

Geert A. A. Nibourg, Maarten T. Huisman, Tessa V. van der Hoeven, Thomas M. van Gulik, Robert A. F. M. Chamuleau, Ruurdtje Hoekstra – 30 August 2010 – To bridge patients with acute liver failure to transplantation or liver regeneration, a bioartificial liver (BAL) is urgently needed. A BAL consists of an extracorporeal bioreactor loaded with a bioactive mass that would preferably be of human origin and display high hepatic functionality, including detoxification. The human hepatoma cell line HepG2 exhibits many hepatic functions, but its detoxification function is low.

Hepatic differentiation of liver‐derived progenitor cells and their characterization by microRNA analysis

Yixin Chen, Hongchao Zhou, Aaron L. Sarver, Yan Zeng, Jayanta Roy‐Chowdhury, Clifford J. Steer, M. Behnan Sahin – 30 August 2010 – We recently reported the isolation and characterization of a novel population of progenitor cells called liver‐derived progenitor cells (LDPCs), which could differentiate into functional hepatocytes in vitro. However, our original studies resulted in relatively low and variable hepatic differentiation efficiency without validation of in vivo potential of LDPCs.

Three‐dimensional computed tomography scan analysis of hepatic vasculatures in the donor liver for living donor liver transplantation

Koichiro Uchida, Masahiko Taniguchi, Tsuyoshi Shimamura, Tomomi Suzuki, Kenichiro Yamashita, Minoru Ota, Toshiya Kamiyama, Michiaki Matsushita, Hiroyuki Furukawa, Satoru Todo – 30 August 2010 – Because hepatic vasculatures exhibit variations, a preoperative evaluation of the vascular anatomy and an estimation of the volume of the liver graft are essential for successful adult living donor liver transplantation. Using 3‐dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT), we analyzed the volumetric and anatomical relationship of the hepatic vasculatures of liver grafts.

Improved rat steatotic and nonsteatotic liver preservation by the addition of epidermal growth factor and insulin‐like growth factor‐I to University of Wisconsin solution

M. Amine Zaouali, Susagna Padrissa‐Altés, Ismail Ben Mosbah, Izabel Alfany‐Fernandez, Marta Massip‐Salcedo, Araní Casillas‐Ramirez, María Bintanel‐Morcillo, Olivier Boillot, Anna Serafin, Antoni Rimola, Juan Rodés, Joan Roselló‐Catafau, Carmen Peralta – 30 August 2010 – This study examined the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I) supplementation to University of Wisconsin solution (UW) in steatotic and nonsteatotic livers during cold storage.

Extra‐anatomical hepatic artery reconstruction in living donor liver transplantation: Can this procedure save hepatic grafts?

Hideaki Uchiyama, Ken Shirabe, Akinobu Taketomi, Yuji Soejima, Mizuki Ninomiya, Hiroto Kayashima, Toru Ikegami, Yoshihiko Maehara – 30 August 2010 – Graft hepatic arteries (HAs) are usually reconstructed with a recipient HA branch (anatomical HA reconstruction) in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Surgeons often encounter difficulties in reconstructing HAs, particularly when a recipient artery other than an HA branch must be used; this is known as extra‐anatomical HA reconstruction.

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