Yasuro Futagawa, Kayo Waki, Junchao Cai – 22 March 2006 – We investigated an association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐DR13 to graft survival in liver transplantation among Caucasian recipients. 28,708 deceased liver transplants performed between January 1990 and December 2002 in the United States as reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing registry were utilized to compare survival rates. We utilized Caucasian adult patients (>20 years) by Kaplan‐Meier curves, log‐rank tests, and Cox proportional hazard analyses.

Matteo Cescon, Gian Luca Grazi, Alberto Grassi, Matteo Ravaioli, Gaetano Vetrone, Giorgio Ercolani, Giovanni Varotti, Antonietta D'Errico, Giorgio Ballardini, Antonio Daniele Pinna – 22 March 2006 – The effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) in orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has not yet been clarified. We performed a pilot study to evaluate the effects of IPC in OLT by comparing the outcomes of recipients of grafts from deceased donors randomly assigned to receive (IPC+ group, n = 23) or not (IPC− group, n = 24) IPC (10‐min ischemia + 15‐min reperfusion).

Thorsten G. Lehmann, Tom Luedde, Robert F. Schwabe, Hartwig Bunzendahl, R. Jude Samulski, John J. Lemasters, David A. Brenner – 22 March 2006 – Transplantation of reduced‐size livers may lead to a hypermetabolic state and increased production of oxygen radicals. Since oxygen radicals may cause liver injury and impair liver regeneration, we tested the hypothesis that overexpression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in reduced‐size livers (RSL) would accelerate regeneration and reduce injury in a rat model of transplantation of RSL.

Sander Florman, Charles M. Miller – 22 March 2006 – With ever‐increasing demand for liver replacement, supply of organs is the limiting factor and a significant number of patients die while waiting. Live donor liver transplantation has emerged as an important option for many patients, particularly small pediatric patients and those adults that are disadvantaged by the current deceased donor allocation system. Ideally there would be no need to subject perfectly healthy people in the prime of their lives to a potentially life‐threatening operation to procure transplantable organs.

José Luis Callejas Rubio, Javier Salmerón Escobar, Jorge González‐Calvín, Norberto Ortego Centeno – 22 March 2006

Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Yasuhiko Sugawara, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 22 March 2006

Steven J. Lester, R. Todd Hurst – 22 March 2006

Robin D. Hughes, Ragai R. Mitry, Anil Dhawan, Sharon C. Lehec, Raffaele Girlanda, Mohamed Rela, Nigel D. Heaton, Paolo Muiesan – 9 March 2006 – One of the limitations to hepatocyte transplantation is the restricted availability of donor liver tissue. The aim of this study was to evaluate livers from non‐heart‐beating donors (NHBDs) as a source of hepatocytes for cell transplantation. A total of 20 livers/segments obtained from NHBD were perfused under good manufacturing practices using a standard collagenase digestion method.

Shin Hwang, Sung‐Gyu Lee, Kyu‐Bo Sung, Kwang‐Min Park, Ki‐Hun Kim, Chul‐Soo Ahn, Young‐Joo Lee, Sung‐Koo Lee, Gyu‐Sam Hwang, Deok‐Bog Moon, Tae‐Yong Ha, Dong‐Sik Kim, Jae‐Pil Jung, Gi‐Won Song – 9 March 2006 – A considerable proportion of adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) recipients experience biliary complication (BC), but there are few reports regarding BC based on long‐term studies of a large LDLT population.

Victor I. Machicao, Titte R. Srinivas, Alan W. Hemming, Consuelo Soldevila‐Pico, Roberto J. Firpi, Alan I. Reed, Giuseppi J. Morelli, David R. Nelson, Manal F. Abdelmalek – 9 March 2006 – The implementation of the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) score decreased mortality of those awaiting liver transplantation (LT); however, the impact of the MELD allocation system on the risk of chronic renal disease after LT remains unknown. We conducted a non‐concurrent single‐center cohort study of 174 patients undergoing LT at our center.