Charmaine A. Stewart, Jason Wertheim, Kim Olthoff, Emma E. Furth, Colleen Brensinger, James Markman, Abraham Shaked – 20 April 2004 – Ascites after liver transplantation, although uncommon, presents a serious clinical dilemma. The hemodynamic changes that support the development of ascites before liver transplantation are resolved after transplant; therefore, persistent ascites (PA) after liver transplantation is unexpected and poorly characterized. The aim of this study was to define the clinical factors associated with PA after liver transplantation.

Rainer Lück, Jan Böger, Ernst Kuse, Jürgen Klempnauer, Björn Nashan – 20 April 2004 – It has been demonstrated that achieving therapeutic levels of cyclosporine (CsA) exposure in the first days posttransplant is critical for effective prevention of rejection. In patients receiving oral CsA, it has been shown that C2‐monitoring is superior to trough (trough level [C0]) measurement. Intravenous administration may overcome the problem of CsA absorption dysfunction seen in some patients. Currently, little evidence is available concerning CsA exposure after intravenous application.

Rana Paramvir Sokhi, Abhinandana Anantharaju, Ravi Kondaveeti, Steven D. Creech, Khondker K. Islam, David H. Van Thiel – 20 April 2004 – Osteoporosis is an important and common complication in patients with chronic liver disease. The goal of this study was to determine the bone mineral density (BMD) in different subgroups among pretransplant cirrhotic patients. BMD of the lumbar vertebrae (L) and femoral neck (F) were obtained in 104 consecutive cirrhotic patients. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to compare the BMD among various groups.

Alexander Choukèr, André Martignoni, Martin Dugas, Wolfgang Eisenmenger, Rolf Schauer, Ines Kaufmann, Gutav Schelling, Florian Löhe, Karl‐Walter Jauch, Klaus Peter, Manfred Thiel – 20 April 2004 – In general, the liver is considered to be larger in males than in females. In the present study, data on liver weight from 728 legal autopsies were analyzed with respect to gender, age, body height (BH), body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), and body surface area (BSA).

Richard B. Freeman – 20 April 2004

Francis Y. Yao, Nathan M. Bass, Nancy L. Ascher, John P. Roberts – 20 April 2004 – We examined the impact of the Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) organ allocation scheme on 44 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) awaiting orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) between February 2002 and January 2003, and compared the outcome with 58 patients listed in the 4 years before MELD implementation. Patients undergoing living‐donor liver transplantation were excluded.

Maureen M. J. Guichelaar, Michael Malinchoc, Jean Sibonga, Bart L. Clarke, J. Eileen Hay – 20 April 2004 – Bone loss occurs early after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in all liver transplant recipients and leads to postoperative fractures, especially in cholestatic patients with the lowest bone mass. Little is known about the underlying changes in bone metabolism after OLT or about the etiology of these changes.

Barbara Rosado, Gregory J. Gores – 20 April 2004 – Metastases from neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of the gastrointestinal tract, carcinoids, and endocrine pancreatic tumors (EPT) can be limited to the liver for long periods and may have slow growth. The symptoms are often related to hormone overproduction, and debulking surgery—for example, liver resection—is recommended to achieve tumor remission or symptom palliation. If liver resection is not feasible, hepatectomy and orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) have been proposed.

Marco Bassanello, Elio Franco De Palo, Federica Lancerin, Alessandro Vitale, Rosalba Gatti, Umberto Montin, Francesco Antonio Ciarleglio, Marco Senzolo, Patrizia Burra, Alberto Brolese, Giacomo Zanus, Davide Francesco D'Amico, Umberto Cillo – 20 April 2004 – Many studies on cirrhotic patients have shown that insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1) plasma levels are related to the severity of liver dysfunction. This result suggests that IGF‐1 is probably useful for monitoring liver function in the perioperative course of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Giovan Giuseppe Di Costanzo, Francesco Paolo Picciotto, Giuseppina Marino Marsilia, Antonio Ascione – 20 April 2004 – Liver transplantation is one of the main therapeutic options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurring in cirrhotic patients; an accurate diagnosis and staging of this cancer is crucial to selecting the candidates for this treatment. Although the best diagnostic strategy is debated, the guidelines proposed by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) are used by many centers.