Michael Charlton – 21 March 2005

Dimitrios N. Samonakis, Christos K. Triantos, Ulrich Thalheimer, Alberto Quaglia, Gioacchino Leandro, Rosângela Teixeira, George V. Papatheodoridis, Caroline A. Sabin, Nancy Rolando, Susan Davies, Amar P. Dhillon, Paul Griffiths, Vincent Emery, David W. Patch, Brian R. Davidson, Keith Rolles, Andrew K. Burroughs – 21 March 2005 – In HCV cirrhotic patients after liver transplantation, survival and recurrence of HCV appears to be worsening in recent years. Donor age has been suggested as a cause.

Patrycja Jonetzko, Ivo Graziadei, Karin Nachbaur, Wolfgang Vogel, Sabine Pankuweit, Ralf Zwick, Otmar Pachinger, Gerhard Poelzl – 21 March 2005 – Acute myocarditis may result in severe hemodynamic compromise with fatal outcome. Furthermore, recent studies suggest myocarditis as a major cause of sudden unexpected death. A variety of cardiotropic viral, rickettsial, and bacterial infectious agents have been identified to date. Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is usually benign in childhood, but it may also cause death due to myocarditis.

Sjoerd de Rave, Bettina E. Hansen, Theo H.N. Groenland, Geert Kazemier, Robert A. de Man, Herold J. Metselaar, Onno T. Terpstra, Hugo W. Tilanus, Jan H.N.M. IJzermans, Solko W. Schalm – 21 March 2005 – Between 1986 and 1990 we performed heterotopic liver transplantation (HLT) in 17 patients with chronic liver disease. In spite of theoretical advantages and favorable short‐term results, we abandoned HLT because of doubts about the long‐term outcome and the improved results of standard orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Shin Hwang, Sung‐Gyu Lee, Sang‐Tae Choi, Deok‐Bog Moon, Tae‐Yong Ha, Young‐Joo ng Lee, Kwang‐Min Park, Ki‐Hun Kim, Chul‐Soo Ahn, Keon‐Kuk Kim, Yeon‐Dae Kim – 21 March 2005 – Hepatic vein anatomy (V4) of the medial segment (S4) has been a matter of concern since introduction of extended right lobe (ERL) graft. To assess risk of hepatic venous congestion (HVC) in ERL donors, we tried to newly classify V4 anatomy. We analyzed V4 anatomy of 328 living donor livers by using 3‐dimensional reconstruction (3‐DR) and volumetry of computed tomography (CT).

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.

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

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.

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.

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.