Kenneth E. Drazan – 30 December 2003

J. Ignacio Herrero, Jorge Quiroga, Bruno Sangro, Oscar Beloqui, Fernando Pardo, Javier A. Cienfuegos, Jesús Prieto – 30 December 2003 – Liver transplant recipients have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease because of a high incidence of obesity, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia. Hyperhomocysteinemia has been found to be an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease in large studies.

Jan Stange, Steffen R. Mitzner, Sebastian Klammt, Jens Freytag, Piotr Peszynski, Jan Loock, Heiko Hickstein, Gero Korten, Reinhardt Schmidt, Jörg Hentschel, Martin Schulz, Matthias Löhr, Stefan Liebe, Wolfgang Schareck, Ullrich T. Hopt – 30 December 2003 – Liver failure associated with excretory insufficiency and jaundice results in an endogenous accumulation of toxins involved in the impairment of cardiovascular, kidney, and cerebral function.

Christopher P. Snowden, Tracey Hughes, John Rose, David R.D. Roberts – 30 December 2003 – The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of radiological pulmonary edema in elective liver transplant recipients and its relationship to perioperative factors and postoperative course. We reviewed 102 chest radiographs from 34 patients who had undergone orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Films were assessed by 2 trained radiologists for evidence of pulmonary edema using a standardized system. Clinical and outcome data from the 34 patients were also recorded.

Pedro W. Baron, David Sindram, Dave Higdon, David N. Howell, Marcia R. Gottfried, Janet E. Tuttle‐Newhall, Pierre‐Alain Clavien – 30 December 2003 – The majority of patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) have end‐stage liver disease secondary to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Although OLT does not cure the disease and recurrent virus is present in all patients, relatively few patients with recurrent viremia develop clinical disease. When the disease recurs, however, the results can be devastating.

Javier Crespo, Monteserrat Rivero, Marta Mayorga, Emilio Fabrega, Fernando Casafont, Manuel Gomez‐Fleitas, Fernando Pons‐Romero – 30 December 2003 – To date, there have been no reports of the involvement of the Fas system in recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). In 25 patients who underwent OLT for HCV‐related liver cirrhosis, we evaluated the expression of the Fas antigen (FasAg) on hepatocytes, apoptic hepatocytes, and serum levels of soluble Fas (sFas).

Richard K. Gilroy, Stephen V. Lynch, Russell W. Strong, Paul Kerlin, Glenda A. Balderson, Katherine A. Stuart, Darrell H.G. Crawford – 30 December 2003 – Resource utilization is an important consideration when patients are selected for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The Mayo Risk Score has been proposed to help predict optimum time for OLT. We assessed the relation between Mayo risk score, Child‐Pugh score, and resource utilization and outcome after OLT for primary biliary cirrhosis.

Lydia M. Petrovic – 30 December 2003

Motohiko Yasutomi, Scott Harmsmen, Franco Innocenti, Nelson DeSouza, Ruud A.F. Krom – 30 December 2003 – The prolonged waiting time caused by the lack of donor livers leads to an increasing number of terminally ill patients waiting for lifesaving liver transplantation. To rescue these patients, transplant programs are accepting donor organs from the expanded donor pool, using donors of increasingly older age, as well as from the pediatric age group, often despite significant mismatch in liver size.

James F. Trotter, Michael Wachs, T. Bak, Thomas Trouillot, Nancy Stolpman, Gregory T. Everson, Igal Kam – 30 December 2003 – At our center, we have performed liver transplantation since 1995 with a rapid‐taper steroid protocol (weaning steroids by day 14 posttransplantation). Beginning in 2000, we further reduced the use of corticosteroids to 3 days and added sirolimus to our immunosuppressive regimen.