Yuji Kumashiro, Mureo Kasahara, Kazuhiro Nomoto, Masaru Kawai, Katsuya Sasaki, Tetsuya Kiuchi, Koichi Tanaka – 30 December 2003 – We present a case of a giant hepatic hemangioma with Kasabach‐Merritt syndrome, which was cured by living donor liver transplantation. A 48‐year‐old woman complained of abdominal fullness and appetite loss. The laboratory data showed disseminated intravascular coagulation and a morphologic evaluation revealed a giant hepatic hemangioma involving both lobes of the liver.

Gabriel E. Gondolesi, Sander Florman, Cal Matsumoto, Ruoqing Huang, Thomas M. Fishbein, Patricia A. Sheiner, Myron E. Schwartz, Sukru Emre, Swan Thung, Robert Shapiro, Charles M. Miller – 30 December 2003 – We evaluated the influence of portal and hepatic venous hemodynamics on the immediate and 3‐month postoperative function of living donor right lobe grafts. Portal velocity was measured prospectively by ultrasound in 14 consecutive donor/recipient pairs. Velocity was converted to flow with the Moriyasu formula.

Ole B. Suhr, Bo‐Göran Ericzon, Styrbjörn Friman – 30 December 2003 – Portuguese type familial amyloid polyneuropathy is a dominantly inherited neuropathic amyloidosis caused by a mutant transthyretin (TTR). Because TTR is produced mainly by the liver, liver transplantation (LT) abolishes production of the amyloidogenic variant TTR. To date, the procedure appears to halt the progress of the disease. However, long‐term outcome is unknown. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the survival of our initial group of unselected liver transplant recipients with FAP.

Ashok Kumar B. Jain, Raman Venkataramanan, Jonathan A. Fridell, Mary Gadomski, Leslie M. Shaw, Margaret Ragni, Magdalena Korecka, John Fung – 30 December 2003 – With the increasing success of liver transplantation and the proven effectiveness of highly active retroviral therapy in HIV‐positive patients, liver transplantation has been performed successfully in selected HIV‐positive recipients with CD4 and an HIV viral load response to highly active antiretroviral therapy. In these patients, an interaction between a protease inhibitor (nelfinavir) and tacrolimus has been shown.

Arno Nordin, Leena Halme, Heikki Mäkisalo, Helena Isoniemi, Krister Höckerstedt – 30 December 2003 – Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is associated with a higher rate of bile duct injuries than an open cholecystectomy. The annual incidence of bile duct injuries has remained almost constant and these injuries tend to be more serious, making demands on the method of repair. We wanted to report the management and outcome of major bile duct injuries after laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients referred to a hepatobiliary and liver transplantation unit.

Norah A. Terrault – 30 December 2003 – 1Therapeutic decisions are guided by a patient's clinical status (severity of disease and presence of comorbidities) and previous drug‐exposure history.2Lamivudine is safe and effective in liver transplant recipients with recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection caused by wild‐type virus or failure of hepatitis B immunoglobulin therapy.

Salvatore Gruttadauria, Carlo Scotti Foglieni, Angelo Luca, Augusto Lauro, Cataldo Doria, Ignazio R. Marino – 30 December 2003

Didier Samuel – 30 December 2003

Ed Gane – 30 December 2003 – 1Treatment of established recurrent hepatitis C with interferon‐α monotherapy does not achieve sustained virologic response (SVR).2Treatment of established recurrent hepatitis C with combination interferon plus ribavirin achieves SVR rates of 17% to 27%, but dropout rates approach 30%.3Pretransplant prophylaxis against recurrent hepatitis C with combination interferon plus ribavirin is poorly tolerated in patients with decompensated hepatitis C cirrhosis.4Posttransplant prophylaxis with combination interferon plus ribavirin prevents both recurrent viremia and he

John R. Lake – 30 December 2003