Guy W. Neff, Christopher B. O'Brien, Jose Nery, Norah Shire, Marzia Montalbano, Phillip Ruiz, Ciao Nery, Kamran Safdar, Maria De Medina, Andreas G. Tzakis, Eugene R. Schiff, Juan Madariaga – 20 October 2004 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence following liver transplantation (LTx) has been controllable primarily with the use of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIg) and lamivudine (LAM). However, HBV resistance to LAM and/or HBIg has become an increasing problem prompting the use of newer antiviral agents.

Juan R. Ayuso, Carmen Ayuso, Ernest Bombuy, Carmen De Juan, Josep M. Llovet, Teresa M. De Caralt, Marcel Sánchez, Mario Pagés, Jordi Bruix, Juan C. García‐Valdecasas – 20 October 2004 – Accurate preoperative depiction of biliary anatomy is not always adequately accomplished by imaging techniques in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). We present the results of a prospective study designed to evaluate the ability of mangafodipir trisodium (Mn‐DPDP)‐enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) cholangiography (MRC) for this purpose in a series of 25 adult living liver donors (LLDs).

See Ching Chan, Chi Leung Liu, Chung Mau Lo, Sheung Tat Fan – 20 October 2004 – In a consecutive series of 60 right lobe adult‐to‐adult live donor liver transplantations (ALDLTs), safety and efficacy of the University of Wisconsin (UW) and histidine‐tryptophan‐ketoglutarate (HTK) solution were evaluated. The first 30 liver grafts were perfused with UW solution and the subsequent 30 by HTK solution. Donor and recipient characteristics of both groups were comparable.

Prabhakar Baliga, Sergio Alvarez, Anne Lindblad, Lan Zeng – 20 October 2004 – Pediatric patients with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) tend to be the sickest and have the most urgent need for a liver transplant. The purpose of this analysis was to identify factors associated with posttransplant survival in this subset of patients. Data on all FHF patients registered in the Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT) registry from 1995 to 2002 were analyzed. Demographics such as age, gender, race, weight, and etiology of liver disease were recorded.

P. Aiden McCormick, Marie O'Rourke, Deirdre Carey, Marie Laffoy – 20 October 2004 – Ireland, in common with many countries, has a mixed private and public health care system. Concern has been expressed that this system may lead to inequity in access to medical treatment. To investigate this concern, all contacts and first admissions to the national liver transplant unit were identified between April 1, 2000, and March 31, 2002. The effects of private health insurance and area of residence on the likelihood of receiving a liver transplant were assessed.

James J. Stone, Seong‐Hwan Chang, Pamela M. Kimball, R. Todd Stravitz, Robert A. Fisher – 20 October 2004 – We present a case of functional and histopathologic tolerance, chimerism, and spontaneous clearance of HBV in a patient four years after living donor liver transplant (LDLT). A 19‐year‐old male patient underwent a LDLT for HBV cirrhosis. He voluntarily ceased immunosuppression and antiviral therapy after 6 months. He is now four years status post transplant without any episodes of rejection or clinical manifestation of liver disease.

Piotr Milkiewicz, Jenny Heathcote – 14 October 2004 – The mechanisms that cause the female predominance of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) are uncertain, but the X chromosome includes genes involved in immunological tolerance. We assessed the rate of X monosomy in peripheral white blood cells from 100 women with PBC, 50 with chronic hepatitis C, and 50 healthy controls, by fluorescence in‐situ hybridisation.

Gerald Y. Minuk, Dong Feng Sun, Rebecca Greenberg, Manna Zhang, Kimberly Hawkins, Julia Uhanova, Adam Gutkin, Kevin Bernstein, Antonio Giulivi, Carla Osiowy – 14 October 2004 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections continue to occur in adult hemodialysis units. A possible contributing factor is the presence of occult HBV (serum hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg] negative but HBV DNA positive). Two hundred forty‐one adult hemodialysis patients were screened for occult HBV.

Kazuyoshi Kon, Jae‐Sung Kim, Hartmut Jaeschke, John J. Lemasters – 14 October 2004 – Acetaminophen overdose causes massive hepatic failure via mechanisms involving glutathione depletion, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction. The ultimate target of acetaminophen causing cell death remains uncertain, and the role of apoptosis in acetaminophen‐induced cell killing is still controversial. Our aim was to evaluate the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) as a key factor in acetaminophen‐induced necrotic and apoptotic killing of primary cultured mouse hepatocytes.

Marlys Hearst Witte – 14 October 2004