Stefan Reuter, Andreas Buck, Burkhard Manfras, Wolfgang Kratzer, Hanns Martin Seitz, Kassa Darge, Sven Norbert Reske, Peter Kern – 30 January 2004 – In human alveolar echinococcosis (AE), benzimidazoles are given throughout life because they are only parasitostatic. It has been a longstanding goal to limit treatment, and recent reports suggest that, in selected cases, benzimidazoles may be parasitocidal. Previously, we showed that positron –emission tomography (PET) using [18F]fluoro‐deoxyglucose discriminates active from inactive lesions in AE.

Ulrich Thalheimer, Maria Mela, David Patch, Andrew K. Burroughs – 30 January 2004 – Many of the complications of cirrhosis reflect the presence of portal hypertension, which is commonly expressed as the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG). Baseline and repeat measurements of HVPG have been recommended for the management of patients with cirrhosis in the setting of pharmacologic prophylaxis of variceal bleeding and for gaining information about prognosis.

Jan M. Ruijter, Roben G. Gieling, Marry M. Markman, Jaco Hagoort, Wouter H. Lamers – 30 January 2004 – The liver is thought to consist of lobules, numerous repeating, randomly oriented units. Within these lobules, genes are expressed in gradients along the porto‐central axis, which spans the distance between portal and central veins. We have developed a robust stereological method to map all points in an image to their position on this porto‐central axis.

Atul Humar, Ian McGilvray, Murray J. Phillips, Gary A. Levy – 30 January 2004

Andrew Paul Keaveny, Fredric David Gordon, Atoussa Goldar‐Najafi, William David Lewis, Elizabeth Anne Pomfret, James John Pomposelli, Roger Lewin Jenkins, Urmila Khettry – 6 January 2004 – A retrospective analysis of 51 primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) patients who underwent liver transplant (LT) identified 16 with xanthogranulomatous cholangiopathy (XGC) at the native liver hilum. Pre‐LT clinical and laboratory data and post‐LT course and outcome of patients with XGC were compared with the 35 PSC patients without XGC.

Pratima Sharma, Vijayan Balan, Jose L. Hernandez, Ann M. Harper, Erick B. Edwards, Hector Rodriguez‐Luna, Thomas Byrne, Hugo E. Vargas, David Mulligan, Jorge Rakela, Russell H. Wiesner – 6 January 2004 – The new allocation policy of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) based on the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) gives candidates with stage T1 or stage T2 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) a priority MELD score beyond their degree of hepatic decompensation.

Richard B. Freeman, Russell H. Wiesner, Erick Edwards, Ann Harper, Robert Merion, Robert Wolfe – 6 January 2004 – Liver allocation policy in the U.S. was recently changed to a continuous disease severity scale with minimal weight given to time waiting in an effort to better prioritize deceased donor liver transplant candidates. We compared rates of waiting list registrations, removals, transplants, and deaths during the year prior to implementation of the new liver allocation policy (2/27/01–2/26/02, Era 1) with the first year's experience (2/27/02–2/26/03, Era 2) under this new policy.

Romuald Bellmann, Ivo W. Graziadei, Clemens Feistritzer, Hubert Schwaighofer, Frans Stellaard, Ekkehard Sturm, Christian J. Wiedermann, Michael Joannidis – 6 January 2004 – Albumin dialysis has been shown to improve the outcome in patients with cholestatic liver failure caused by chronic liver disease. This study reports 7 liver transplant recipients who were treated with albumin dialysis for intractable pruritus of different origin (ductopenic graft rejection, non‐anastomotic strictures, and recurrence of hepatitis C).

Olivier Scatton, Jacques Belghiti, Federica Dondero, Diane Goere, Daniele Sommacale, Marylène Plasse, Alain Sauvanet, Olivier Farges, Valérie Vilgrain, Francois Durand – 6 January 2004 – The harvesting of the middle hepatic vein (MHV) with a right hepatectomy for living‐donor liver transplantation allows an optimal venous drainage for the recipient but can also have adverse effects for the donor.

Paul H. Hayashi, James F. Trotter, Lisa Forman, Marcelo Kugelmas, Tracy Steinberg, Paul Russ, Michael Wachs, Thomas Bak, Igal Kam, Gregory T. Everson – 6 January 2004 – The allocation system based on the Model for End‐stage Liver Disease (MELD) has led to more patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) being transplanted. We hypothesized that more patients misdiagnosed with HCC are also being transplanted, leading to inappropriate organ allocation.