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).

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.

John G. O'Grady – 30 January 2004

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

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.