Wendy J. Grant, Timothy McCashland, Jean F. Botha, Byers W. Shaw, Debra L. Sudan, Alejandro Mejia, Kishore Iyer, Alan N. Langnas – 30 December 2003 – A 26‐year‐old woman presented with acute Budd‐Chiari syndrome 18 weeks into a pregnancy. She was found to be heterozygous for the G20210A prothrombin gene mutation. She was treated with portacaval shunt placement and successfully completed the pregnancy, with a healthy baby delivered at 31 weeks' gestation.

Robert J. Fontana, Robert M. Merion – 30 December 2003

Antonino Cavallari, Umberto Cillo, Bruno Nardo, Franco Filipponi, Enrico Gringeri, Roberto Montalti, Fabio Vistoli, Francesco D'Amico, Antonio Faenza, Franco Mosca, Alessandro Vitale, Davide D'Amico – 30 December 2003 – Primary dysfunction (PDF) still occurs after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Celsior solution (CS) might offer some advantages over the conventional University of Wisconsin (UW) solution for organ preservation, but to date, this has not been prospectively evaluated in the context of OLT.

Cengizhan Yigitler, Olivier Farges, Reza Kianmanesh, Jean‐Marc Regimbeau, Eddie K. Abdalla, Jacques Belghiti – 30 December 2003 – The maximum extent of hepatic resection compatible with a safe postoperative outcome is unknown. The study goal was to determine the incidence and impact of a small remnant liver volume after major liver resection in patients with normal liver parenchyma.

Koenraad J. Mortelé, Vito Cantisani, Roberto Troisi, Bernard de Hemptinne, Stuart G. Silverman – 30 December 2003 – This article discusses the rationale behind living (related) donor liver transplantation, the role of imaging in the preoperative evaluation of the potential donor, and the currently available imaging modalities for fulfilling this task. Furthermore, the normal hepatic vascular and biliary anatomy, as seen on imaging, is reviewed and the most common anomalies are highlighted.

Sammy Saab, Albert J. Chang, Scott Comulada, Sunil K. Geevarghese, R. Dean M. Anselmo, Francisco Durazo, Steven Han, Douglas G. Farmer, Hasan Yersiz, Leonard I. Goldstein, R. Mark Ghobrial, Ronald W. Busuttil – 30 December 2003 – The use of hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb)‐ and hepatitis C virus antibody (HCV+) liver grafts for transplantation in selected populations has not affected patient and graft survival. We reexamined the clinical outcomes of using these HBcAb+ and HCV+ grafts at our institution, in addition to studying recipients of combined HBcAb+/HCV+ grafts.

Charles M. Miller – 30 December 2003 – Key points

John Paul Roberts – 30 December 2003 – Key points

Z. A. Saeed, G. V. Stiegmann, F. C. Ramirez, R. M. Reveille, J. S. Goff, K. S. Hepps, R. A. Cole – 30 December 2003 – Patients who have bled from varices remain at risk for rebleeding. There is interest in methods that would enable rapid eradication of varices. The present trial was designed to study whether combining ligation with sclerotherapy will allow quicker eradication of varices than either modality alone. Patients with bleeding esophageal varices were randomized into ligation or combination therapy groups.

Y. Chao, T. Young, H. Tang, C. Hsu – 30 December 2003 – It is still not clear why some alcoholic patients acquire certain organ‐specific complications of alcoholism whereas other alcoholic patients acquire different ones. As we know the liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), and cytochrome P4502E1 (P4502E1) are polymorphic at the ADH2, ADH3, and ALDH2 loci and the 5′‐flanking region of the P4502E1.