Nicolas Carbonell, Arnaud Pauwels, Lawrence Serfaty, Olivier Fourdan, Victor George Lévy, Raoul Poupon – 30 August 2004 – Over the past two decades, new treatment modalities have been introduced for the management of variceal bleeding. The aim of this retrospective study in a single center was to assess whether these treatments have improved the prognosis for cirrhotic patients with variceal bleeding. We reviewed the clinical records of all patients with cirrhosis admitted to our Liver Intensive Care Unit due to variceal bleeding during the years 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, and 2000.

Aparna Venkatraman, Sruti Shiva, Amanda Wigley, Elena Ulasova, David Chhieng, Shannon M. Bailey, Victor M. Darley‐Usmar – 30 August 2004 – Nitric oxide (NO) is now known to control both mitochondrial respiration and organelle biogenesis. Under conditions of ethanol‐dependent hepatic dysfunction, steatosis is increased, and this is associated with increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS).

Xian Liang Li, Kwan Man, Kevin T. Ng, Terence K. Lee, Chung Mau Lo, Sheung Tat Fan – 30 August 2004 – Ischemia / reperfusion (I / R) injury is related to tissue graft energy status. Insulin, which is currently used in the University of Wisconsin (UW) preservation solution with insulin (UWI), is an anabolic hormone and was shown to exacerbate the hepatic I / R injury in our previous study. In this study, the energy status and regulation of metabolism genes by insulin were investigated in liver grafts preserved by UW solution.

Sambit Sen, Nathan A. Davies, Rajeshwar P. Mookerjee, Lisa M. Cheshire, Stephen J. Hodges, Roger Williams, Rajiv Jalan – 30 August 2004 – The pathophysiological basis of acute‐on‐chronic liver failure (ACLF) is unclear but systemic inflammatory response is thought to be important. In patients with ACLF, the molecular adsorbents recirculating system (MARS) improves individual organ function, but the effect of MARS on the proposed mediators of systemic inflammatory response is unclear.

Yoji Kishi, Yasuhiko Sugawara, Nobuhisa Akamatsu, Junichi Kaneko, Yuichi Matsui, Norihiro Kokudo, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 30 August 2004 – There are few reported techniques to minimize the congestion in the donor after left liver graft procuring. If a large tributary of the middle hepatic vein (MHV) draining segment VIII (V8) converges into the root of the MHV in a donor of left liver, this branch should be preserved on the donor side. The volume of congested area when the V8 was ligated was predicted preoperatively by computed tomography (CT) and examined intraoperatively by the clamp test.

David Brandhagen – 30 August 2004 – We observed the development of phenotypic hereditary haemochromatosis in a non‐hereditary haemochromatosis liver transplant recipient, following transplantation with a liver from a C282Y heterozygous donor. No cause for secondary iron overload was identified. Subsequent sequencing of the HFE gene of both donor and recipient revealed a strong candidate for a novel pathogenic HFE mutation.

30 August 2004

Mònica Guevara, Glòria Fernández‐Esparrach, Carlo Alessandria, Aldo Torre, Carlos Terra, Xavier Montañà, Carlos Piera, Maria Luisa Alvarez, Wladimiro Jiménez, Pere Ginès, Vicente Arroyo – 30 August 2004 – Patients with cirrhosis are frequently submitted to radiological procedures that require the administration of contrast media. Contrast media is a well‐known cause of renal failure, particularly in the presence of some predisposing conditions. However, it is not known whether cirrhosis constitutes a risk factor for contrast media–induced renal failure.

Yasuhiko Sugawara, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 30 August 2004

Jan Stange – 30 August 2004