Edward Gane, Rachael Bergman, David Hutchinson – 19 November 2004 – Between 10 and 20% of adult liver transplants are performed for end‐stage alcoholic liver disease. Severe extrahepatic end‐organ damage from alcoholism (cardiomyopathy, pancreatitis, central nervous system injury, and neuropathy) is widely regarded as an absolute contraindication to liver transplantation, despite a lack of data on the effect of transplantation on these complications. We describe such a patient who presented with decompensated alcoholic liver disease and moderately severe peripheral neuropathy.

Georges‐Philippe Pageaux, Yvon Calmus, Olivier Boillot, Christian Ducerf, Claire Vanlemmens, Karim Boudjema, Didier Samuel, and the French CHI‐F‐01 Study Group – 19 November 2004 – Some clinical studies in liver transplantation have recently reported safety advantages and similar acute rejection rates with early steroid withdrawal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of an immunosuppressive regimen with steroid withdrawal at day 14. A multicenter, 1‐year, comparative, double blind, placebo‐controlled study was performed.

Teh‐Ia Huo, Jaw‐Ching Wu, Han‐Chieh Lin, Fa‐Yauh Lee, Ming‐Chih Hou, Yi‐Hsiang Huang, Pui‐Ching Lee, Full‐Young Chang, Shou‐Dong Lee – 19 November 2004 – The model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) has been a prevailing system to prioritize cirrhotic patients awaiting liver transplantation. An “exceptional” MELD score of 20 and 24 points is assigned for stage T1 and T2 patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), respectively. However, this strategy is based on scarce data and the optimal score for these patients remains uncertain.

Hermann Janßen, Petra H.E. Janßen, Christoph E. Broelsch – 19 November 2004 – Celsior solution (CS), a new preservation solution in thoracic organ transplantation, was evaluated for its efficacy in cold preservation of human liver endothelial cells (HLEC) and was compared to University of Wisconsin solution (UW) and histidine‐tryptophan‐ketoglutarate solution (HTK, Custodiol). HLEC cultures were preserved at 4°C in CS, UW, and HTK, for 2, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours, with 6 hours of reperfusion.

Zakiyah Kadry, Davide Cintorino, Carlo Scotti Foglieni, John Fung – 19 November 2004

Ole B. Suhr, Gösta Holmgren, Erik Lundgren – 19 November 2004 – Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy is the common form of hereditary generalized amyloidosis and is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid fibrils in the peripheral nerves and other organs. Liver transplantation (LTx) has been utilized as a therapy for familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy because the variant transthyretin (TTR) is predominantly synthesized by the liver, but this therapy has several problems. Thus, we need to develop a new treatment that prevents the production of the variant TTR in the liver.

Shin Hwang, Sung‐Gyu Lee, Tae‐Yong Ha, Chul‐Soo Ahn, Kwang‐Min Park, Ki‐Hun Kim, Young‐Joo Lee, Deok‐Bog Moon, Keon‐Kuk Kim, Yeon‐Dae Kim – 20 October 2004 – Concomitant resection of the caudate lobe (CL) would increase the liver mass in the left liver graft. We tried to define a simplified standardized technique for adult living donor liver transplantation using the extended left lobe (ELL) plus CL (ELLC) through a prospective study of 27 consecutive ELLC graft cases in 2003.

Alberto Grassi, Micaela Susca, Matteo Ravaioli, Gian Luca Grazi, Antonia D'Errico, Andrea Bontadini, Daniela Zauli, Antonio Pinna, Francesco B. Bianchi, Giorgio Ballardini – 20 October 2004 – Engraftment by recipient's (R) cells has been already demonstrated in gender mismatched liver grafts using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), with contrasting results concerning epithelial cells. Mismatch for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I (HLA‐I) is quite common in patients with orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Angelo Andriulli, Ilario de Sio, Luigi Solmi, Luciano De Carlis, Roberto Troisi, Alessandro Grasso, Virginia Festa, Eugenio Caturelli, Alessandro Giacomoni, Camillo Del Vecchio Blanco, Bernard De Hemptinne, Andrew Burroughs, Francesco Perri – 20 October 2004 – For “early” hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), surgery, orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) improve the natural history of the disease. We performed a retrospective study to evaluate the outcome of patients with cirrhosis and early HCC treated by PEI (n = 417) or OLT (n = 172).

Miguel Lebrón Gallardo, Manuel E. Herrera Gutierrez, Gemma Seller Pérez, Emilio Curiel Balsera, Juan F. Fernández Ortega, Guillermo Quesada García – 20 October 2004 – Renal dysfunction (RD) is a frequent complication after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), and it has an unfavorable effect on the prognosis of OLT patients. The purpose of our study was to identify possible risk factors for RD and its impact on survival.