Manuel Romero‐Gómez, Lourdes Grande, Inés Camacho – 25 March 2004 – Oral glutamine challenge (OGC) has been found to be safe, and an altered response predicts elevated risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). We assessed the survival prognosis of patients with cirrhosis, but without current overt HE, who have an altered OGC and MHE. MHE was inferred using 3 neuropsychological tests. Venous ammonia concentrations were measured pre‐ and post‐60 minutes of a 10 g oral glutamine load.

Arun J Sanyal – 25 March 2004

J. Michael Millis – 22 March 2004

Kellee Slater, Thomas E. Bak, Igal Kam, Michael E. Wachs – 22 March 2004 – Liver transplantation is now an acceptable treatment for small hepatocellular carcinomas in the setting of cirrhosis. Larger tumors in cirrhotic livers and unresectable tumors in noncirrhotic livers (including fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinomas) may also be indications for transplantation. With the limited number of cadaver grafts available, living donor liver transplant is becoming an option for some of these patients.

22 March 2004

John Michael Tredger, Nigel William Brown, Jemimah Adams, Chris Elton Gonde, Anil Dhawan, Mohamed Rela, Nigel Heaton – 22 March 2004 – Predose plasma mycophenolic acid (MPA) concentrations measured with a semi‐automated enzyme‐multiplied immunoassay were related to adverse events (e.g., rejection, leukopenia, infection), drug dose, and clinical status in 147 adult and 63 pediatric liver allograft recipients receiving adjunctive immunosuppression with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF).

Ziad Hassoun, Vijay Shah, Christine M. Lohse, V. Shane Pankratz, Lydia M. Petrovic – 22 March 2004 – Several studies have linked centrilobular necrosis (CN) to acute cellular rejection (ACR) following liver transplantation. However, it may be difficult to establish the diagnosis of ACR when the classic portal features are absent. The aim of the present study was to identify specific features that would help to recognize ACR in biopsies with CN. One hundred and forty liver biopsies with CN were identified from 97 patients who underwent liver transplantation.

Sasan Roayaie, Jonathan D. Schwartz, Max W. Sung, Sukru H. Emre, Charles M. Miller, Gabriel E. Gondolesi, Nancy R. Krieger, Myron E. Schwartz – 22 March 2004 – Very little is known about the natural history, effects of therapy, and survival after recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation. All adult patients undergoing liver transplant from September 19, 1988, until September 19, 2002, were reviewed. Only patients with histologically proven HCC in the explant who subsequently developed recurrence were included in further analysis.

Yasuhiko Sugawara, Masatoshi Makuuchi, Nobuhisa Akamatsu, Yoji Kishi, Takashi Niiya, Junichi Kaneko, Hiroshi Imamura, Norihiro Kokudo – 22 March 2004 – Short and direct vein anastomosis is generally performed in living donor liver transplantation using a right liver graft. The graft will regenerate, however, and might thus compress the anastomosis. We formulated a strategy for outflow reconstruction in right liver graft. When reconstruction of multiple short hepatic veins was necessary, a cryopreserved inferior vena cava graft was anastomosed with the hepatic veins of the graft in a basin.

Chung‐Mau Lo, Siu‐Tim Cheung, Irene Oi‐Lin Ng, Chi‐Leung Liu, Ching‐Lung Lai, Sheung‐Tat Fan – 22 March 2004 – Fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis (FCH) is a peculiar variant of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in immunocompromised patients characterized by rapid viral replication. Posttransplant patients receiving lamivudine for prophylaxis or treatment of HBV infection may develop drug resistance due to viral mutants, but FCH is rare because escape mutants are usually replication deficient.