Carlo Giannini, Francesca Giannelli, Anna Linda Zignego – 20 April 2006

Christophe Corpechot, Ahmed El Naggar, Armelle Poujol‐Robert, Marianne Ziol, Dominique Wendum, Olivier Chazouillères, Victor de Lédinghen, Daniel Dhumeaux, Patrick Marcellin, Michel Beaugrand, Raoul Poupon – 20 April 2006 – Noninvasive measurement of liver stiffness with transient elastography has been recently validated for the evaluation of hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C. The current study assessed the diagnostic performance of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) for the determination of fibrosis stage in chronic cholestatic diseases.

Marina Berenguer, Antonio Palau, Alberto Fernandez, Salvador Benlloch, Victoria Aguilera, Martín Prieto, Jose‐Miguel Rayón, Joaquín Berenguer – 18 April 2006 – There are unresolved issues regarding sustained virological response (SVR), tolerance and risk of rejection following antiviral therapy in liver transplantation (LT). The aim of our study was to determine efficacy, rejection risk and factors associated with SVR.

Gary Levy, Heinz Schmidli, Jeffrey Punch, Elizabeth Tuttle‐Newhall, David Mayer, Peter Neuhaus, Didier Samuel, Bjorn Nashan, Juergen Klempnauer, Alan Langnas, Yvon Calmus, Xavier Rogiers, Michael Abecassis, Richard Freeman, Maarten Sloof, John Roberts, Lutz Fischer – 5 April 2006 – Everolimus is a macrolide immunosuppressive agent with known consistent absorption. In this double‐blind study, we examined the safety and tolerability of everolimus vs. placebo in de novo liver transplant recipients.

Urmila Khettry, Gissou Azabdaftari, Mary Ann Simpson, Elizabeth A. Pomfret, James J. Pomposelli, W. David Lewis, Roger L. Jenkins, Fredric D. Gordon – 5 April 2006 – The Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scoring system, a validated objective liver disease severity scale, was adopted in February 2002 to allocate cadaveric organs for liver transplantation (LT). To improve transplantability before succumbing to advanced disease, patients with low‐stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are given extra points in this system commensurate with their predicted mortality.

Alessandro Cucchetti, Giorgio Ercolani, Marco Vivarelli, Matteo Cescon, Matteo Ravaioli, Giuliano La Barba, Matteo Zanello, Gian Luca Grazi, Antonio Daniele Pinna – 5 April 2006 – The objective of this study was to predict postoperative liver failure and morbidity after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with cirrhosis. The model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) score is currently accepted as a disease severity index of cirrhotic patients awaiting liver transplantation; however, its impact on prognosis after resection of HCC on cirrhosis has never been investigated.

Nina Singh, Timothy L. Pruett, Sally Houston, Patricia Muñoz, Thomas V. Cacciarelli, Marilyn M. Wagener, Shahid Husain – 5 April 2006 – Retransplantation is a major risk factor for invasive aspergillosis in liver transplant recipients. However, the risk for invasive aspergillosis with time elapsed since retransplantation, clinical characteristics, and outcome of patients who develop this infection after retransplantation of the liver has not been defined. Patients comprised 17 liver retransplant recipients with invasive aspergillosis between 1990 and 2004.

Noriyo Yamashiki, Yasuhiko Sugawara, Sumihito Tamura, Junichi Kaneko, Kayo Nojiri, Masao Omata, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 5 April 2006 – The selection of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) recipients in regions where deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) is rarely performed might be different from that in other centers at which LDLT is an alternative option to DDLT. Records of adult (age ≥ 18 yr) patients referred to our center were reviewed to analyze the selection process of LDLT candidates. Among the 533 LDLT candidates, 165 (31%) were rejected due to recipient issues.

Evangelos B Cholongitas, Alex Betrossian, Gioacchino Leandro, Steve Shaw, David Patch, Andrew K. Burroughs – 23 March 2006

Jamie C. Mandac, Sonal Chaudhry, Kenneth E. Sherman, Yaron Tomer – 23 March 2006 – Interferon‐alpha (IFNα) is a major treatment modality for several malignant and nonmalignant diseases, especially hepatitis C. Prospective studies have shown that up to 15% of patients with hepatitis C receiving IFNα develop clinical thyroid disease, and up to 40% were reported to develop thyroid antibodies. Some of these complications may result in discontinuation of interferon therapy. Thus, interferon induced thyroiditis (IIT) is a major clinical problem for patients receiving interferon therapy.