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.

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.

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.

Craig McClain, Daniel Hill, Marcello Kugelmas – 30 January 2004

John G. O'Grady – 30 January 2004

Tito Livraghi, Franca Meloni, Alberto Morabito, Claudio Vettori – 30 January 2004 – The best treatment policy for some patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and compensated cirrhosis is still controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long‐term survival and related prognostic factors of patients with early and intermediate HCC (Liver Unit of Barcelona classification) treated in a radiologic referral center by a multimodal image‐guided tailored therapy (MIGTT), applied over time, choosing the procedure patient by patient according to the presentation of the disease.

Timothy M. Pawlik, Nestor F. Esnaola, Jean‐Nicolas Vauthey – 30 January 2004 – Recently, the International Cooperative Study Group for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) proposed a new staging based on data from multiple centers across the world. The new TNM staging has been shown to be more accurate in the prognostic classification of patients after resection for HCC. This staging is the basis for the new TNM for HCC approved by the AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) and UICC (Union Internationale Contre le Cancer).

Jordi Bruix, Josep M. Llovet – 30 January 2004

Neil Kaplowitz – 30 January 2004

Evelyn Zeindl‐Eberhart, Sibylle Haraida, Sibylle Liebmann, Peter Roman Jungblut, Stephanie Lamer, Doris Mayer, Gundula Jäger, Stephen Chung, Hartmut Manfred Rabes – 30 January 2004 – The proteomic approach is a valuable tool to detect and identify proteins that are associated with cancer. In previous investigations on experimentally induced rat hepatomas, we detected aldose reductase‐like protein (ARLP) as a highly significant marker protein. Our present study was intended to look for the presence of similar tumor‐associated marker proteins on human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC).