Shin Hwang, Sung‐Gyu Lee, Kwang‐Min Park, Young‐Joo Lee, Chul‐Soo Ahn, Ki‐Hoon Kim, Deog‐Bok Moon, Tae‐Yong Ha, Sung‐Hun Cho, Ki‐Bong Oh – 6 January 2004 – The left‐sided gallbladder is very rare, but it is often accompanied by multiple anomalies of the liver, by which living donor hepatectomy cannot be feasible or becomes difficult. We have experienced 3 donors with a left‐sided gallbladder out of 642 living donors. The first case was a male donor showing bifurcating portal anomaly with intrahepatic right portal vein confluence and extremely low bifurcation of the bile ducts.

Abhinav Humar, Khalid Khwaja, Timothy D. Sielaff, John R. Lake, William D. Payne – 6 January 2004

Amany Zekry, Margret Gleeson, Seren Guney, Geoffrey W. McCaughan – 6 January 2004 – It has been suggested that Mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF) may have an antiviral effect in patients with recurrent HCV infection post‐liver transplantation. We conducted a prospective cross‐over study in liver transplant recipients with recurrent chronic HCV infection to examine whether substitution of azathioprine (AZA) with MMF would reduce HCV load and improve allograft function. Thirteen long standing HCV liver transplant recipients receiving AZA were enrolled in a 9‐month prospective cross‐over study.

Raffaele Girlanda, Abdul H Mohsen, Heather Smith, Erwin Sablon, Man‐Fung Yuen, John O'Grady, Paolo Muiesan, Mohamed Rela, Nigel Heaton, Suzanne Norris – 6 January 2004 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes have been associated with specific patterns of disease and response to antiviral therapy. We investigated the effect of HBV genotype on HBV recurrence and mortality after liver transplantation (LT). Pretransplant sera of 45 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive adults were submitted for HBV genotyping by a reverse‐phase hybridization line probe assay with genotype‐specific probes.

Sergei Mechtcheriakov, Ivo W. Graziadei, Michael Mattedi, Thomas Bodner, André Kugener, Hartmann H. Hinterhuber, Josef Marksteiner, Wolfgang Vogel – 6 January 2004 – Previous studies have suggested reversibility of minimal hepatic encephalopathy in patients with liver cirrhosis after liver transplantation (LT), however, this topic is controversially discussed. We investigated this issue in a prospective study on liver cirrhotic patients listed for LT.

Yoji Kishi, Yasuhiko Sugawara, Junichi Kaneko, Nobuhisa Akamatsu, Hiroshi Imamura, Hirotaka Asato, Norihiro Kokudo, Masatoshi Makuuchi – 6 January 2004 – Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) using right liver grafts is now widely performed. Anatomic classifications of the hepatic artery for right liver procurement, however, are limited. In this study, celiac and mesenteric angiograms of 223 consecutive living donors in a single institution were evaluated. Details of the arterial anastomosis and results were reviewed in 72 patients who underwent primary LDLT using right liver grafts.

Juan Angel Fernández, Ricardo Robles, Caridad Marín, Francisco Sánchez‐Bueno, Pablo Ramírez, Pascual Parrilla – 6 January 2004 – The introduction of biliary laparoscopic surgery led to an increase in the incidence of liver hilum injuries. These types of lesions are very serious, because they can lead to secondary biliary cirrhosis or fulminant hepatic failure and the need for liver transplantion (LT). We present three cases of liver hilum injuries, which were treated with LT; one case was due to severe and persistent cholangitis, and two cases were due to fulminant hepatic failure.

Hiroyuki Katagiri, Yoshiya Ito, Ken‐ichiro Ishii, Izumi Hayashi, Makoto Suematsu, Shohei Yamashina, Takahiko Murata, Shuh Narumiya, Akira Kakita, Masataka Majima – 5 January 2004 – Although thromboxanes (TXs), whose synthesis is regulated by cyclooxygenase (COX), have been suggested to promote inflammation in the liver, little is known about the role of TXA2 in leukocyte endothelial interaction during endotoxemia.

Juliette Martin, Jean‐François Dufour – 5 January 2004 – Background & Aims: Cholestasis is one of the principal manifestations of liver disease and often results from disorders involving bile duct epithelia rather than hepatocytes. A range of disorders affects biliary epithelia, and no unifying pathophysiologic event in these cells has been identified as the cause of cholestasis.

Andres T. Blei – 5 January 2004