Aileen Marshall, Simon Rushbrook, Lesley S. Morris, Ian S. Scott, Sarah L. Vowler, Susan E. Davies, Nicholas Coleman, Graeme Alexander – 21 March 2005 – Although graft infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) occurs in virtually all patients transplanted for HCV‐related liver disease, the outcome ranges from minimal disease to the rapid development of cirrhosis. Induction of hepatocyte cell cycle entry followed by inhibition of cell cycle progression has been proposed as a potential mechanism whereby HCV may cause hepatocyte dysfunction and may promote fibrogenesis.

21 March 2005

Cyrille Féray – 21 March 2005

Hideaki Okajima, Atsushi Kotera, Takayuki Takeichi, Mikako Ueno, Taketoshi Ishiko, Masahiko Hirota, Katsuhiro Asonuma, Eijiro Yamauchi, Yukihiro Inomata – 21 March 2005

Antonio Cuadrado, Emilio Fábrega, Fernando Casafont, Fernando Pons‐Romero – 21 March 2005 – The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of alcohol recidivism after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) for alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and its influence on the allograft and patient survival, as well as the development of comorbidities and de novo cancers. The study was performed on 54 subjects previously analyzed and transplanted in our center for ALD, whose follow‐up was prolonged to a mean of 99.2 (SD 31.7) months (range, 14–155).

Elisa Faybush, David C. Mulligan, Barry D. Birch, Joseph I. Sirven, Vijayan Balan – 21 March 2005 – There are no published accounts of patients with ventriculoperitoneal shunts undergoing liver transplantation in the literature. Because patients with ventriculoperitoneal shunts are prone to infections, this may be a theoretical contraindication to transplantation. We present a case of a patient with cirrhosis who had a ventriculoperitoneal shunt placed many years prior to transplantation. The patient had no neurological complications and the shunt was intact and functioning.

Marcus K.H. Auth, Dirk Woitaschek, Mechthild Beste, Thomas Schreiter, Hyun Soo Kim, Elsie Oppermann, Ruth E. Joplin, Ulrich Baumann, Philip Hilgard, Silvio Nadalin, Bernd H. Markus, Roman A. Blaheta – 21 March 2005 – Bioartificial liver support systems have demonstrated limited efficacy in compensation of liver detoxification and substitution of liver‐derived factors. However, in these devices, the biological substitution of the complex liver function has been restricted to xenogeneic or transformed hepatocytes.

Anil Dhawan, Rachel M. Taylor, Paul Cheeseman, Pamela De Silva, Leah Katsiyiannakis, Giorgina Mieli‐Vergani – 21 March 2005 – Wilson's disease (WD) is a rare liver‐based disorder of copper metabolism. Prognostic criteria described by our group in 1986 to predict death without transplantation have not been universally validated. The clinical features of 88 children were reviewed, retrospectively in 74 and prospectively in 14.

Olivia M. Martinez, Hugo R. Rosen – 21 March 2005

Alfredo Marzano, Silvia Gaia, Valeria Ghisetti, Silvia Carenzi, Alberto Premoli, Wilma Debernardi‐Venon, Carlo Alessandria, Alessandro Franchello, Mauro Salizzoni, Mario Rizzetto – 21 March 2005 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence after liver transplantation is significantly reduced by prophylaxis with hepatitis B immune globulins (HBIG) or antiviral drugs in nonreplicating patients and by the combination of both drugs in replicating patients. However, the load of HBV DNA, which defines replicating status in patients undergoing liver transplantation, remains unclear.