Josh Levitsky, Andre C. Kalil, Jane L. Meza, Glenn E. Hurst, Alison Freifeld – 28 November 2005 – Previous case series have reported serious complications of chicken pox (CP) after pediatric liver transplantation (PLT), mainly due to visceral dissemination. The goal of our study was to determine the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of CP after PLT. A case‐control study of all CP infections in pediatric transplant recipients followed at our center from September 1993 to April 2004 was performed.

Javier Vaquero, Robert J. Fontana, Anne M. Larson, Nathan M.T. Bass, Timothy J. Davern, A. Obaid Shakil, Steven Han, M. Edwyn Harrison, Todd R. Stravitz, Santiago Muñoz, Robert Brown, William M. Lee, Andres T. Blei – 28 November 2005 – Monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) in acute liver failure (ALF) is controversial as a result of the reported complication risk (∼20%) and limited therapeutic options for intracranial hypertension.

Matthew Hoare, William T.H. Gelson, Susan E. Davies, Martin Curran, Graeme J.M. Alexander – 28 November 2005 – Schistosomiasis affects 200 to 250 million people worldwide. Hepatic schistosomiasis is a well‐recognized cause of chronic liver disease and portal hypertension. There are no previous reports of schistosomiasis post liver transplantation. We report on 2 cases of schistosomiasis in liver transplant recipients— a case of gastric schistosomiasis and a case of hepatic schistosomiasis.

Hidenori Haruta, Hironori Yamamoto, Koichi Mizuta, Yoshiaki Kita, Takeji Uno, Satoshi Egami, Shuji Hishikawa, Kentaro Sugano, Hideo Kawarasaki – 28 November 2005 – Biliary complications remain a major concern after living donor liver transplantation. We describe a pediatric case who underwent a successful endoscopic balloon dilatation of biliary‐enteric stricture following living donor liver transplantation using a newly developed method of enteroscopy. The 7‐year‐old boy with late biliary stricture of choledochojejunostomy was admitted 6 years after transplantation.

Claire Terry, Anil Dhawan, Ragai R. Mitry, Sharon C. Lehec, Robin D. Hughes – 28 November 2005 – Cryopreservation of human hepatocytes is important for the treatment of liver disease by hepatocyte transplantation and also for the use of hepatocytes as an in vitro model of the liver. One factor in the success of cryopreservation is the quality of cells before freezing.

Martin Vogel, Esther Voigt, Nico Schäfer, Georg Goldmann, Nicolas Schwarz, Jörg C. Kalff, Tilman Sauerbruch, Martin Wolff, Jürgen Kurt Rockstroh, Ulrich Spengler – 28 November 2005 – The outcome and clinical features of 7 HIV‐positive patients who were liver transplanted at Bonn University in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) between 1997 and 2004, analyzed by retrospective chart review, are reported.

Kenji Kihara, Shinichi Ueno, Masahiko Sakoda, Takashi Aikou – 28 November 2005 – Recent studies have shown that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) reduces neutrophil endothelial adherence in venules and also blocks the progressive arteriolar vasoconstriction associated with ischemia‐reperfusion (I‐R) injury in the extremities and the brain. In order to elucidate the effects of HBOT after I‐R in digestive organs, particularly in the liver, we evaluated the following: 1) the relationship between timing of HBOT and tissue damage; and 2) HBOT's effects on neutrophil sequestration.

Yusuke Yonemura, Akinobu Taketomi, Yuji Soejima, Tomoharu Yoshizumi, Hideaki Uchiyama, Tomonobu Gion, Noboru Harada, Hideki Ijichi, Kengo Yoshimitsu, Yoshihiko Maehara – 28 November 2005 – Reconstruction of middle hepatic vein (MHV) tributaries is controversial in right‐lobe living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). This study aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of reconstructing MHV tributaries by volumetry using 3‐dimensional computed tomography (3D‐CT).

Peter Boros, Gabriel Gondolesi, Jonathan S. Bromberg – 28 November 2005 – Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment was introduced as replacement therapy for patients with antibody deficiencies, but evidence suggests that a wide range of immune‐mediated conditions could benefit from IVIg. The immunoglobulins are precipitated from human plasma by fractionation methods. In conclusion, the differences in basic fractionation methods and the addition of various modifications for purification, stabilization, and virus inactivation result in products significantly different from each other.

Janis E. Blair, Shimon Kusne – 28 November 2005