Andrea DiMartini, Nancy Day, Mary Amanda Dew, Lubna Javed, Mary Grace Fitzgerald, Ashok Jain, John J. Fung, Paulo Fontes – 9 March 2006 – For patients who receive a liver transplant (LTX) for alcoholic liver disease (ALD), investigators are focusing beyond survival to determine specific alcohol use outcomes. Studies suggest the use of alcohol ranges from 8 to 22% for the first post‐transplant year with cumulative rates reaching 30 to 40% by 5 years following transplantation.

Roberto Troisi, Lucien Noens, Roberto Montalti, Salvatore Ricciardi, Jan Philippé, Marleen Praet, Pasquale Conoscitore, Michele Centra, Bernard de Hemptinne – 9 March 2006 – ABO‐incompatible (ABO‐I) liver transplantation is a controversial issue because of the generally less favorable outcome as compared to compatible transplants. Encouraging results have been shown by the introduction of new strategies to reduce posttransplant‐specific hemagglutinin (HA) titers with plasmapheresis, reinforced immunosuppression (IS), and the use of splenectomy.

Marina Berenguer, Victoria Aguilera, Martín Prieto, Fernando San Juan, José M. Rayón, Salvador Benlloch, Joaquín Berenguer – 9 March 2006 – The severity of recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) is likely related to several factors. Controversial results have been reported regarding the effect of specific calcineurin‐inhibitors. The aim of this research was to determine whether there are differences on posttransplantation outcome in HCV‐infected patients based on initial immunosuppression. Prospective randomized trial comparing tacrolimus vs.

Saiho Ko, Eiji Okano, Hiromichi Kanehiro, Masanori Matsumoto, Hiromichi Ishizashi, Masahito Uemura, Yoshihiro Fujimura, Koichi Tanaka, Yoshiyuki Nakajima – 9 March 2006 – A disintegrin‐like and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin type‐1 motifs 13 (ADAMTS13) is a metalloproteinase that specifically cleaves the multimeric von Willebrand factor (VWF). Deficiency of ADAMTS13 increases the unusually large VWF multimers (UL‐VWFM), which leads to platelet clumping and/or thrombus formation, resulting in microcirculatory disturbance.

Massimo Malagó, Georgios C. Sotiropoulos, Silvio Nadalin, Camino Valentin‐Gamazo, Andreas Paul, Hauke Lang, Arnold Radtke, Fuat Saner, Ernesto Molmenti, Susanne Beckebaum, Guido Gerken, Andrea Frilling, Christoph E. Broelsch – 9 March 2006 – Liver transplantation (LT) is the treatment of choice for early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with end‐stage liver disease but is limited by the availability of donor organs. Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) represents an alternative therapeutic option for patients with disease confined to the liver.

Rita van den Berg‐Emons, Berbke van Ginneken, Markus Wijffels, Hugo Tilanus, Herold Metselaar, Henk Stam, Geert Kazemier – 9 March 2006 – Fatigue is often experienced after liver transplantation. The aim of this cross‐sectional study was to assess the severity of fatigue in liver transplant recipients. In addition, the nature of fatigue and factors that may be associated with severity of fatigue after liver transplantation were explored. Ninety‐six patients up to 15 years after liver transplantation were included.

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.

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.

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.

Todd H. Baron – 23 February 2006