Cédric Coulouarn, Grégory Lefebvre, Céline Derambure, Thierry Lequerre, Michel Scotte, Arnaud Francois, Dominique Cellier, Maryvonne Daveau, Jean‐Philippe Salier – 30 January 2004 – The goal of the current study was to provide complete coverage of the liver transcriptome with human probes corresponding to every gene expressed in embryonic, adult, and/or cancerous liver. We developed dedicated tools, namely, the Liverpool nylon array of complementary DNA (cDNA) probes for approximately 10,000 nonredundant genes and the LiverTools database.

Jin Woo Kim, Qinghai Ye, Marshonna Forgues, Yidong Chen, Anuradha Budhu, Jessica Sime, Lorne J. Hofseth, Rashmi Kaul, Xin Wei Wang – 30 January 2004 – Several types of aggressive cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), often arise as a multifocal primary tumor. This suggests a high rate of premalignant changes in noncancerous tissue before the formation of a solitary tumor.

Kazuto Inoue, Tadatoshi Takayama, Tokio Higaki, Yoshihiro Watanabe, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 30 January 2004 – Early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is defined as a well‐differentiated cancer containing Glisson's triad, but it remains unknown whether this lesion is curable by surgery. We studied 70 patients who had a single HCC smaller than 2 cm in diameter (Stage T1) and who underwent curative hepatectomy and long‐term follow‐up. Based on our typing system, the tumors were assigned as early HCC (n = 15), overt HCC (n = 52), and non‐HCC tumor (n = 3).

Pieter Langers, Serge C.L.M. Cremers, Jan den Hartigh, Roeland A. Veenendaal, W. Rogier ten Hove, Jan Ringers, Cornelis B.H.W. Lamers, Bart van Hoek – 30 January 2004 – After orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) many patients use emulsified cyclosporine. Recent data showed that blood levels 2 hours after dosing (C‐2) better reflect systemic exposure to the drug (area under the blood concentration time curve) than trough levels (C‐0) do.

Youliang Wang, Fang Cui, Yaxin Lv, Cuiling Li, Xiaoling Xu, Chuxia Deng, Dongping Wang, Yansong Sun, Gengxi Hu, Zhenwei Lang, Cuifen Huang, Xiao Yang – 30 January 2004 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) affects males in a significantly higher proportion than females and is one of the human cancers etiologically related to viral factors.

Yasuji Mokuno, François Berthiaume, Ronald G. Tompkins, Ulysses J. Balis, Martin L. Yarmush – 30 January 2004 – Fatty liver is a common predisposing risk factor for postoperative liver failure and accounts for most discarded livers during triage of donors. We investigated the effect of heat shock preconditioning (HPc) on recipient survival in a rat fatty liver transplantation model. Fatty liver donor rats were exposed to brief whole‐body hyperthermia (10 minutes at 42.5°C) and allowed to recover.

Michael J. Krowka, M. Susan Mandell, Michael A.E. Ramsay, Steve M. Kawut, Michael B. Fallon, Cosme Manzarbeitia, Manuel Pardo, Paul Marotta, Shinji Uemoto, Markus P. Stoffel, Joanne T. Benson – 30 January 2004 – Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) and portopulmonary hypertension (PortoPH) are pulmonary vascular consequences of advanced liver disease associated with significant mortality after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Hani H. Abujudeh, Arun K. Samanta, Kyunghee C. Cho, Kenneth M. Klein, Phillip Bahramipour, Baburao Koneru – 30 January 2004

Brian I. Carr – 30 January 2004 – Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) generally arises in a cirrhotic liver and, in most cases, is multifocal and bilobar. Although trans‐hepatic artery chemoembolization (TACE) can be highly affective in shrinking tumors, it is limited by virtue of the damage that it can cause to the liver that is already damaged by chronic disease. A high priority in HCC research, after primary prevention and early detection, is to find new treatment modalities that are both effective and non‐toxic to the underlying cirrhotic liver.

Eugenio Caturelli, Giorgia Ghittoni, Paola Roselli, Mariagrazia De Palo, Marcello Anti – 30 January 2004 – Guided biopsy of hepatocellular carcinoma has been recently discussed again due to the progress of imaging techniques and the risk of malignant seeding after the procedure. Ultrasound is probably still the most accurate imaging modality for early detection of nodules arising on cirrhosis, even when compared with more advanced imaging techniques. It can be easily employed in the surveillance of high‐risk cirrhotic patients.