Jim Wade, Nancy Rolando, Roger Williams – 30 December 2003 – In a prospective study of 284 liver transplant patients, we sought associations between aerobic gram‐negative bacillus acquisition or infection and 35 preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative variables. Although the 128 (45%) who acquired aerobic gram‐negative bacilli had longer admissions (P = 0.0001), no associations were found with pretransplant variables.

Nicholas F. LaRusso, – 30 December 2003

David R. Mack,, Anil Dhawan, Stuart S. Kaufman, Alan N. Langnas, Thomas A. Seemayer – 30 December 2003 – Children who have undergone liver transplantation may develop chronic diarrhea for a number of reasons. Three children who underwent liver transplantation for liver failure, all of whom had had previous biliary and intestinal surgeries and whose postoperative course was marked by signs and symptoms of intestinal malabsorption including chronic diarrhea, are described.

Annick Steib,, Guy Freys, François Collin, Anne Launoy, Geneviève Mark, Karim Boudjema – 30 December 2003 – The release of toxic oxidative free radicals induced by ischemia and reperfusion may jeopardize liver graft function. N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) has shown protective effects on hypothermic and warm ischemia reperfusion liver injury in animals. NAC improves hemodynamics and survival rates in patients with fulminant hepatic failure.

J. Michael Henderson, Thomas D. Boyer – 30 December 2003

Scott A. Taga,, M. Kay Washington, Norah Terrault, Teresa L. Wright, Kenneth A. Somberg, Linda D. Ferrell – 30 December 2003 – Some liver allograft recipients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection develop hyperbilirubinemia, which might be the result of a cholestatic variant of hepatitis C.

Jaquelyn F. Fleckenstein, Melinda Paredes, Paul J. Thuluvath – 30 December 2003 – Acute cellular rejection (ACR) after orthotopic liver transplantation occurs in 50% to 80% of patients despite the recent advances in immunosuppressive therapy. Adjuvant use of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is theoretically attractive, but studies have shown conflicting results. In this randomized, controlled study, we evaluated the efficacy of UDCA in reduction of the incidence of ACR.

Laurel R. Fisher, Keith S. Henley – 30 December 2003

I.D.M. van Mourik, H. Vilca Melendez, M. Thomson, G. Mieli‐Vergani, N. Heaton, D.A. Kelly – 30 December 2003 – Cyclosporine (Sandimmune) is an effective immunosuppressive drug but may be poorly absorbed in the early postoperative period after liver transplantation, exposing the recipient to an increased risk for rejection. Neoral is a new oral formulation of cyclosporine that uses a mixture of surfactant, lipophilic, and hydrophilic solvents to permit microemulsification that leads to potentially better absorption.

Christine Meyers, Lewis Low, Larry Kaufman, George Druger, Linda L. Wong, – 30 December 2003 – Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is characterized by hypoxia, orthodeoxia, and platypnea, associated with severe chronic liver disease. Liver transplantation is generally viewed as the only curative treatment for this syndrome, but it may be complicated by prolonged hypoxia after the procedure. We report on a 58‐year‐old female patient with alcoholic cirrhosis and HPS who underwent liver transplantation.