Alexander J. C. IJtsma, Christian S. van der Hilst, Marieke T. de Boer, Koert P. de Jong, Paul M. J. G. Peeters, Robert J. Porte, Maarten J. H. Slooff – 28 August 2009 – This study assesses the relation between the anhepatic phase duration and the outcome after liver transplantation. Of 645 patients who underwent transplantation between 1994 and 2006, 194 were recipients of consecutive adult primary piggyback liver transplants using heart‐beating donors. The anhepatic phase was defined as the time from the physical removal of the liver from the recipient to recirculation of the graft.

Justin D. Ellett, Zachary P. Evans, Carl Atkinson, Michael G. Schmidt, Rick G. Schnellmann, Kenneth D. Chavin – 28 August 2009 – Steatotic donors are routinely rejected for transplantation because of their increased rate of primary nonfunction. These grafts are more sensitive to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) during transplantation. Removal of endotoxin before reperfusion improves liver performance post‐I/R. We hypothesize that the main modality of injury in steatotic livers is toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling.

Charles D. Howell – 28 August 2009

Er‐Jiao Xu, Ren Mao, Rong‐Qin Zheng, Min‐Qiang Lu, Mei Liao, Jie Ren, Kai Li – 28 August 2009

Hiroyuki Sugimoto, Koichi Kato, Masashi Hirota, Shin Takeda, Hideya Kamei, Taro Nakamura, Tetsuya Kiuchi, Akimasa Nakao – 28 August 2009 – To elucidate the role of Doppler hepatic hemodynamic parameters as surrogate markers of acute rejection (AR) after live donor liver transplantation (LDLT), serial Doppler measurements were prospectively performed during the first 2 weeks after LDLT to compare the longitudinal hepatic hemodynamic changes between patients with histologically proven AR and patients without histologically proven AR.

Feng Liu, Zhi‐Da Liu, Nan Wu, Xu Cong, Ran Fei, Hong‐Song Chen, Lai Wei – 28 August 2009 – Cirrhosis is the most common end stage of liver diseases, and there are no effective treatment methods. Here we evaluated the effect of endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) transplantation from rat bone marrow (BM) on the development of cirrhosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Ex vivo generated, characterized, and cultivated rat BM–derived EPCs were identified by their vasculogenic properties in vitro.

Hani P. Grewal, Darrin L. Willingham, Justin Nguyen, Winston R. Hewitt, Bucin C. Taner, Danielle Cornell, Barry G. Rosser, Andrew P. Keaveny, Jamie Aranda‐Michel, Raj Satyanarayana, Denise Harnois, Rolland C. Dickson, David J. Kramer, Christopher B. Hughes – 28 August 2009 – The use of donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors may provide a valuable source of organs for liver transplantation. Concerns regarding primary nonfunction (PNF) and intrahepatic biliary stricture (IHBSs) have limited the enthusiasm for their use.

Santos Jiménez‐Galanes, Marchán Juan Carlos Meneu‐Diaz, Almudena Moreno Elola‐Olaso, Baltasar Pérez‐Saborido, Fundora‐Suarez Yiliam, Alberto Gimeno Calvo, Manuel Abradelo Usera, Mercedes Catalán González, Juan Carlos Montejo González, Enrique Moreno González – 28 August 2009 – Because of the organ shortage, non–heart‐beating donors have been proposed as a possible source of grafts for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Natalie Bzowej, Steven Han, Bulent Degertekin, Emmet B. Keeffe, Sukru Emre, Robert Brown, Rajender Reddy, Anna S. Lok, National Institutes of Health Hepatitis B Virus Orthotopic Liver Transplantation Study Group – 28 August 2009 – Several previous studies found that Asians transplanted for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection had worse post‐transplant outcomes than Caucasians. Data on post‐transplant outcomes of African Americans and waitlist outcomes of Asian Americans and African Americans with hepatitis B are scant.

James K. Pine, Amer Aldouri, Alistair L. Young, Mervyn H. Davies, Magdy Attia, Giles J. Toogood, Stephen G. Pollard, J. P. A. Lodge, K. R. Prasad – 28 August 2009 – Grafts from donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors are used to increase the number of organs available for liver transplantation. There is concern that warm ischemia may impair graft function. We compared our DCD recipients with a case‐matched group of donation after brain death (DBD) recipients. Between January 2002 and April 2008, 39 DCD grafts were transplanted.