Siew Chin Ong, Belinda Mak, Myat Oo Aung, Shu‐Chuen Li, Seng‐Gee Lim – 3 March 2008 – The relationship between stages of chronic hepatitis B liver disease and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important aspect of the overall management of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, yet is not well characterized. Consequently we sought to examine HRQoL in HBV patients, stratified by disease severity, compared with normal controls and hypertensive patients, using the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF‐36) and the EQ‐5D self‐report questionnaire.

David T. Palma, George M. Philips, Miguel R. Arguedas, Susan M. Harding, Michael B. Fallon – 29 February 2008 – Sleep alters respiratory mechanics and gas exchange, which can adversely affect arterial oxygenation. Whether sleep affects oxygenation in hepatopulmonary syndrome is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess oxygen desaturation during sleep in hepatopulmonary syndrome. Twenty adults with cirrhosis including 10 controls and 10 patients with hepatopulmonary syndrome underwent home pulse‐oximetry during sleep.

Giovanni Musso, Roberto Gambino, Franco De Michieli, Marilena Durazzo, Gianfranco Pagano, Maurizio Cassader – 29 February 2008 – Factors underlying the independent association of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with increased cardiovascular risk are unknown. Adiponectin polymorphisms predict cardiometabolic risk in the general population. This association is not always mediated by low fasting adiponectin levels, adipose tissue accumulation, or traditional risk factors.

Federico Aucejo, Zuhaib Ibrahim, Koji Hashimoto, Cristiano Quintini, Dympna Kelly, David Vogt, Bijan Eghtesad, John Fung, Charles Miller, Ralph Tuthill – 27 February 2008 – Some chromosomal alterations can be associated with vascular abnormalities. For instance, Turner syndrome can be complicated by agenesis or hypoplasia of the portal venous system causing presinusoidal portal hypertension. Liver transplantation to treat this condition overcomes portal hypertension and reconstitutes the diminished hepatic function due to severe atrophy of the portal venous inflow.

J. Ignacio Herrero, Bruno Sangro, Fernando Pardo, Jorge Quiroga, Mercedes Iñarrairaegui, Fernando Rotellar, Custodia Montiel, Felix Alegre, Jesus Prieto – 27 February 2008 – Milan criteria are the most frequently used limits for liver transplantation (LT) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but our previous experience with expanded criteria showed encouraging results. The aim of this study was to investigate whether our expanded Clinica Universitaria de Navarra (CUN) criteria (1 nodule up to 6 cm or 2–3 nodules up to 5 cm each) could be used to select patients with HCC for LT.

Youmin Wu, Frederick C. Johlin, Stephen C. Rayhill, Chris S. Jensen, Jin Xie, Michael B. Cohen, Frank A. Mitros – 27 February 2008 – This retrospective study reviews our experience in surveillance and early detection of cholangiocarcinoma (CC) and in using en bloc total hepatectomy–pancreaticoduodenectomy–orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT‐Whipple) to achieve complete eradication of early‐stage CC complicating primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

Konrad Tang‐Tat Fung, Amar Paul Dhillon, James E. McLaughlin, Sebastian B. Lucas, Brian Davidson, Keith Rolles, David Patch, Andrew K. Burroughs – 27 February 2008 – Acanthamoeba‐related cerebral abscess and encephalitis are rare but usually fatal, being caused by free‐living amoebic infections usually occurring in immunocompromised patients. In patients receiving transplants, a literature review showed that the infection is universally fatal. The diagnosis is often missed despite appropriate investigations including lumbar puncture, computerized tomography, and brain biopsy.

Antonia D'Errico‐Grigioni, Michelangelo Fiorentino, Francesco Vasuri, Elisa Gruppioni, Benedetta Fabbrizio, Nicola Zucchini, Giorgio Ballardini, Cristina Morelli, Antonio Daniele Pinna, Walter Franco Grigioni – 27 February 2008 – We compared tissue hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA polymerase chain reaction quantification and HCV immunohistochemistry (IHC) to histology in biopsy tissues in order to differentiate between acute rejection and HCV hepatitis recurrence early after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Jürgen Treckmann, Thomas Minor, Stefano Saad, Arzu Özcelik, Massimo Malagó, Christoph Erich Broelsch, Andreas Paul – 27 February 2008 – Retrograde oxygen persufflation as a supplement of cold storage during the preservation period has the potential to better utilize ischemically damaged marginal livers in the experimental setting. Retrograde oxygen persufflation was applied in selected livers to demonstrate feasibility in the clinical setting and to investigate potential beneficial effects.

William Bernal, Francesca Meda, Yun Ma, Dimitrios P. Bogdanos, Diego Vergani – 27 February 2008