Claudio Puoti, Lia Bellis, Roberto Castellacci, Fabrizio Montagnese – 22 February 2005

Fazilat F. Mohammed, Caroline J. Pennington, Zamaneh Kassiri, Jeffrey S. Rubin, Paul D. Soloway, Ulrich Ruther, Dylan R. Edwards, Rama Khokha – 22 February 2005 – Liver regeneration depends on timely restoration of cellular mass while orchestrating structural matrix remodeling. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their endogenous inhibitors (TIMPs) are known to regulate the extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover and, more recently, the processing of growth factors and cytokines.

Dieter C. Broering, Pamela Bok, Lars Mueller, Christian Wilms, Xavier Rogiers – 17 February 2005 – Full‐right/full‐left splitting of the liver offers a chance to overcome the severe shortage of donor organs. During this procedure, the splitting surgeons are always faced with the question of how to share the middle hepatic vein (MHV), since this vein drains parts of both halves of the liver. Consequently, we developed a procedure that splits the MHV, thus creating an MHV on both grafts. In this short article, we report on this splitting technique and our first initial experience.

Florence Bettens, Jean‐Marie Tiercy, Nathalie Campanile, Emiliano Giostra, Pietro Majno, Laura Rubbia, Eddy Roosnek, Gilles Mentha, Jean Villard – 17 February 2005 – Microchimerism (MC) is defined by the persistence of <1% circulating donor cells resulting from cell migration from the graft; MC may play a role in the induction of unresponsiveness to allogeneic tissues, or may be merely the consequence of the graft's acceptance following immunosuppression.

Alexander Chiu, Sidney Tam, Wing Yan Au, See Ching Chan, Chi Leung Liu, Sheung Tat Fan – 17 February 2005 – We report a 48‐year‐old man presenting with refractory hyperammonemia after orthotopic liver transplantation. On investigation he was found to have acquired hepatic glutamine synthetase deficiency, a rare condition that occurs after organ transplantations. The patient was started on continuous venovenous hemofiltration treatment, but the hyperammonemia did not respond.

Nobuyuki Takemura, Yasuhiko Sugawara, Takuya Hashimoto, Nobuhisa Akamatsu, Yoji Kishi, Sumihito Tamura, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 17 February 2005 – The incidence of hepatic venous stenosis is higher in partial liver transplantation. New methods for hepatic venous reconstruction in left liver transplantation, which secure wide anastomosis, were devised and are reported here. In the graft, the right side of the middle hepatic vein or the left side of the left hepatic vein was cut longitudinally and a rectangular‐shaped vein patch was attached for venoplasty.

Massimo Malago, Ernesto P. Molmenti, Andreas Paul, Silvio Nadalin, Hauke Lang, Arnold Radtke, Chao Liu, Andrea Frilling, Reza Biglarnia, Christoph E. Broelsch – 17 February 2005 – The increasing experience with live donor liver transplantation has allowed for the identification of potential morbidities associated with technical considerations. Technical graft failure can be associated with both inflow and outflow vascular compromise. Although the latter has not always been given the relevance of the former, evidence pointing to its pivotal role continues to mount.

Ryan N. Fiorini, Jennifer L. Donovan, David Rodwell, Zachary Evans, Gang Cheng, Harold D. May, Charles E. Milliken, John S. Markowitz, Crystal Campbell, Julia K. Haines, Michael G. Schmidt, Kenneth D. Chavin – 17 February 2005 – Hepatic steatosis increases the extent of cellular injury incurred during ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. (‐)‐Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the major flavonoid component of green tea (camellia sinensis) is a potent antioxidant that inhibits fatty acid synthase (FAS) in vitro.

Chi Leung Liu, Sheung Tat Fan, Chung Mau Lo, See Ching Chan, Boon Hun Yong, John Wong – 17 February 2005 – Although the role of routine abdominal drainage after liver resection for tumors has been questioned, abdominal drainage after donor right hepatectomy for live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been a routine practice in most transplant centers. The present study aimed to evaluate the safety of the procedure without abdominal drainage. A prospective study was performed on 100 consecutive liver donors who underwent right hepatectomy for LDLT from July 2000 to September 2003.

Raymond L. Heilman, Marek J. Mazur – 17 February 2005