Cyclosporine A withdrawal during follow‐up after pediatric liver transplantation

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Gouw, Henkjan J. Verkade, Charles M.A. Bijleveld – 30 January 2006 – It is unclear whether cyclosporine A (CsA) can be withdrawn safely during follow‐up after pediatric liver transplantation.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.

Noninvasive measures of liver fibrosis

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.

Prevention of hepatitis B recurrence after liver transplantation using lamivudine or lamivudine combined with hepatitis B Immunoglobulin prophylaxis

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.

HLA class I allelic diversity and progression of fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Keyur Patel, Suzanne Norris, Lauralynn Lebeck, Anne Feng, Michael Clare, Stephen Pianko, Bernard Portmann, Lawrence M. Blatt, James Koziol, Andrew Conrad, John G. McHutchison – 26 January 2006 – Patients infected with HIV‐1 who are heterozygous at HLA class I loci present greater variety of antigenic peptides to CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes, slowing progression to AIDS. A similar broad immune response in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection could result in greater hepatic injury.

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