Michael A.E. Ramsay, Henry B. Randall, Elizabeth C. Burton – 30 January 2004 – This case report describes a patient who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation and developed extensive hyperacute venous and arterial intravascular thromboses and thromboemboli intraoperatively. The patient was receiving antifibrinolytic therapy with aprotinin. The safety of routine aprotinin therapy in liver transplantation is examined. The value of the thrombelastograph (TEG) as a qualitative assessment of the coagulation system is emphasized. (Liver Transpl 2004;10:310–314.)

Gennaro Nuzzo, Felice Giuliante, Maria Vellone, Germano De Cosmo, Francesco Ardito, Marino Murazio, Fabrizio D'Acapito, Ivo Giovannini – 30 January 2004 – Hepatic pedicle clamping (HPC) is widely used to control intraoperative bleeding during hepatectomy; intermittent HPC is better tolerated but is associated with blood loss during each period of reperfusion. Recently, it has been shown that ischemic preconditioning (IP) reduces the ischemia‐reperfusion damage for up to 30 minutes of continuous clamping in healthy liver.

Aurélie Plessier, Liana Codes, Yann Consigny, Daniele Sommacale, Federica Dondero, Alexandre Cortes, Françoise Degos, Pierre‐Yves Brillet, Valérie Vilgrain, Valérie Paradis, Jacques Belghiti, François Durand – 30 January 2004 – Liver transplantation offers good results in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma. However, 3 to 15% of patients still have recurrence, suggesting that factors other than the size and number of nodules are implicated. The aim of our study was to identify predictive factors of recurrence in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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.