Shusen Zheng, Yaomin Chen, Tingbo Liang, Anwei Lu, Weilin Wang, Yan Shen, Min Zhang – 30 January 2006 – The aim of our study was to determine the outcomes of liver transplant recipients receiving either lamivudine (LAM) monotherapy or LAM combined with low‐dose intramuscular (IM) hepatitis B Immunoglobulin (HBIG) therapy. We performed a retrospective review of the medical records of patients that had had liver transplantation in a single center for HBV‐related liver diseases from December 1999 to June 2004.

Don C. Rockey, D. Montgomery Bissell – 30 January 2006 – As novel therapies for liver fibrosis evolve, non‐invasive measurement of liver fibrosis will be required to help manage patients with chronic liver disease. Although liver biopsy is the current and time‐honored gold standard for measurement of liver fibrosis, it is poorly suited to frequent monitoring because of its expense and morbidity, and its accuracy suffers from sampling variation. At the current writing, serum markers and imaging methods are available and increasingly in use as alternatives to biopsy.

Rene Scheenstra, Maarten L.J. Torringa, Herman J. Waalkens, Erik H. Middelveld, Peter M.J.G. Peeters, Maarten J.H. Slooff, Annette S.H. Gouw, Henkjan J. Verkade, Charles M.A. Bijleveld – 30 January 2006 – It is unclear whether cyclosporine A (CsA) can be withdrawn safely during follow‐up after pediatric liver transplantation. In our transplant program we have been using a strict protocol to withdraw CsA. The aim of this study was to retrospectively assess the effects of CsA withdrawal after pediatric liver transplantation on the incidence of rejection and renal function.

Kerry Webb, Liz Shepherd, Ed Day, George Masterton, James Neuberger – 30 January 2006

Allan Concejero, Chao‐Long Chen, Chih‐Chi Wang, Shih‐Ho Wang, Chih‐Che Lin, Yeuh‐Wei Liu, Chin‐Hsiang Yang, Chee‐Chien Yong, Tsan‐Shiun Lin, Salleh Ibrahim, Bruno Jawan, Yu‐Fan Cheng, Tung‐Liang Huang – 30 January 2006 – Hepatic venous outflow reconstruction is a key to successful living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) because its obstruction leads to graft dysfunction and eventual loss. Inclusion or reconstruction of most draining veins is ideal to ensure graft venous drainage and avoids acute congestion in the donor graft.

Thomas E. Starzl, Fadi G. Lakkis – 30 January 2006 – Liver transplantation radically changed the philosophy of hepatology practice, enriched multiple areas of basic science, and had pervasive ripple effects in law, public policy, ethics, and theology. Why organ engraftment was feasible remained enigmatic, however, until the discovery in 1992 of donor leukocyte microchimerism in long‐surviving liver, and other kinds of organ recipients.

Harvey Alter – 30 January 2006

Paul D. Berk – 30 January 2006

Michael P. Manns, Arndt Vogel – 30 January 2006 – In 1950, Waldenström was the first to describe a chronic form of hepatitis in young women. Subsequently, the disease was found to be associated with other autoimmune syndromes and was later termed “lupoid hepatitis” because of the presence of antinuclear antibodies. In 1965, it became designated by Mackay et al. as “autoimmune hepatitis” at an international meeting, at which the general concept of autoimmunity was endorsed by the scientific community.

Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky – 30 January 2006 – The complications of chronic hepatitis C virus infection can be prevented by antiviral therapy. The initial choice of interferon alfa and, subsequently, ribavirin as potential treatments for chronic hepatitis C was empirical. Nevertheless, the combination of pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin has become the standard treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Since the advent of interferon‐based therapy, enormous progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of treatment efficacy and failure, and in everyday patient management.