Robert P. Perrillo – 30 January 2006 – The practicing clinician is currently faced with a number of treatment options for chronic hepatitis B. Beginning in 1998 with the licensing of lamivudine and subsequently adefovir, the treatment paradigm shifted from 4 to 6 months of conventional alfa interferon to a year of nucleoside analog therapy. However, prolonged treatment with nucleoside analogs is often needed to optimize virological response.

Hyung Joon Yim, Anna Suk‐Fong Lok – 30 January 2006 – Remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of the natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the past 25 years. Availability of sensitive HBV DNA assays and application of sophisticated immunological techniques led to the recognition that HBV replication persists throughout the course of chronic HBV infection, and host immune response plays a pivotal role in HBV‐related liver disease.

Gianni Biancofiore, Laura Pucci, Elisabetta Cerutti, Giuseppe Penno, Ennia Pardini, Massimo Esposito, Lucia Bindi, Erika Pelati, Anna Romanelli, Stefano Triscornia, Maria P.

Masahide Fukudo, Ikuko Yano, Satohiro Masuda, Toshiya Katsura, Yasuhiro Ogura, Fumitaka Oike, Yasutsugu Takada, Koichi Tanaka, Ken‐ichi Inui – 30 January 2006 – We have compared the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cyclosporine between once‐ and twice‐daily dosing regimens in de novo patients of living‐donor liver transplantation (LDLT). A total of 14 patients were enrolled in this study, who had received cyclosporine microemulsion (Neoral) twice a day (BID, n = 5) or once daily in the morning (QD, n = 9) after transplantation.

Ji Hoon Shin, Kyu‐Bo Sung, Hyun‐Ki Yoon, Gi‐Young Ko, Kyoung Won Kim, Sung‐Gyu Lee, Shin Hwang, Chul‐Soo Ahn, Ki‐Hun Kim, Deok‐Bog Moon, Ho‐Young Song, Tae‐Yong Ha – 30 January 2006 – Middle hepatic vein (MHV) reconstruction is performed to drain the right paramedian sector to prevent hepatic venous congestion (HVC). The aim of the present study was to evaluate endovascular stent placement in patients with stenosed and/or occluded interposition vein graft (IVG) to segment V hepatic vein (V5) and segment VIII hepatic vein (V8) after living‐donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

See Ching Chan, Chung Mau Lo, Yik Wong, Chi Leung Liu, Sheung Tat Fan – 30 January 2006 – The right lobe liver graft has become the workhorse of adult‐to‐adult live donor liver transplantation. Donor right hepatectomy is feasible only because of the immense regenerative ability of the liver. The long‐term biological consequences of this very major donor procedure on the donor however are unknown. Twenty‐nine donors of this procedure in our centre, all of whom included the middle hepatic vein, were studied.

James D. Perkins – 30 January 2006 – While transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is a common therapy for cirrhotic patients with diuretic‐resistant or diuretic‐refractory ascites, some patients are unsuitable for the procedure for technical or medical reasons. We report our experience with the use of chronic intravenous albumin infusions to achieve diuresis in this difficult patient population and review the historic experience of chronic albumin infusions as a treatment for ascites.

Nina Singh, Victor L. Yu – 30 January 2006

Surakit Pungpapong, Murli Krishna, Susan C. Abraham, Andrew P. Keaveny, Rolland C. Dickson, Raouf E. Nakhleh – 30 January 2006 – Despite certain strict criteria for suitable organ donors, some unrecognized and unusual diseases have been transmitted through liver transplantation to recipients. In the current series, we review our experience with 14 patients who underwent liver transplantation using donor grafts with unusual pathology, including amyloidosis (6), schistosomiasis (3), iron overload (2), and α‐1 antitrypsin deficiency (3).

Jai Young Cho, Kyung‐Suk Suh, Choon Hyuck Kwon, Nam‐Joon Yi, Hwan Hyo Lee, Jean Wan Park, Kwang‐Woong Lee, Jae Won Joh, Suk‐Koo Lee, Kuhn Uk Lee – 30 January 2006 – To overcome the barrier of size match, right lobe graft has been widely used in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). We assessed donor outcome, with a focus on remnant liver volume (RLV) after right hepatectomy based on the experiences of 2 LDLT centers, as a means of guiding the establishment of safe RLV limits for donor right hepatectomy.