Karen L. Hardinger, Bing Ho, Mark A. Schnitzler, Niraj Desai, Jeffrey Lowell, Surendra Shenoy, William Chapman, Jeffrey S. Crippin – 30 December 2003 – Bone disease has emerged as a serious and complex complication after liver transplantation. The purpose of this study is to determine risk factors for fracture and bone loss after liver transplantation. Dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry (DEXA) of the lumbar spine was performed routinely pretransplantation, 6 months posttransplantation, and at yearly intervals thereafter at our center.

François Durand, Jacques Belghiti – 30 December 2003

W. Rogier ten Hove, Bart van Hoek, Ingeborg M. Bajema, Jan Ringers, Johan H.J.M. van Krieken, Emma L. Lagaaij – 30 December 2003 – The transplanted liver has been shown to be particularly capable of inducing tolerance. An explanation may be the presence of chimerism. Cells of donor origin have been found in recipient tissues after transplantation of any solid organ. Evidence for the presence of cells of recipient origin within the transplanted liver is very limited. We investigated whether nonlymphoid cells of recipient origin can be found within human liver allografts.

Scott J. Cotler, Sheldon Cotler, Michele Gambera, Enrico Benedetti, Donald M. Jensen, Giuliano Testa – 30 December 2003 – The involvement of healthy living donors and the degree of technical difficulty make adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) different from any other surgical procedure. We surveyed 100 liver transplant surgeons to assess their views on the complex issues raised by LDLT. Data were collected at meetings on LDLT and by electronic mail. The study instrument was divided into general, donor, surgeon, recipient, and donor and recipient issues.

James Neuberger – 30 December 2003 – Liver transplantation remains the only effective treatment for end‐stage primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). It appears now well accepted that the disease recurs in the allograft. The diagnosis of recurrent PBC is made on the basis of a consistent history and demonstrating the histologic features of PBC on liver biopsy and exclusion of other causes of bile duct damage

Jeffrey C. Dunkelberg, James F. Trotter, Michael Wachs, Thomas Bak, Marcello Kugelmas, Tracy Steinberg, Gregory T. Everson, Igal Kam – 30 December 2003 – Sirolimus is a new immunosuppressive agent increasingly being used in liver transplant recipients. There is concern that sirolimus may be associated with wound complications and hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT). We have used sirolimus as primary immunosuppression in 170 liver transplant recipients and therefore reviewed our experience with wound complications and HAT in our cohort of patients.

Samuel Wyllie, Philip Seu, Feng Q. Gao, John A. Goss – 30 December 2003 – Very little is known about iron metabolism and the mediators of iron metabolism in liver subjected to cold storage before transplantation. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of cold storage on iron homeostasis in the rat liver. When livers were stored at 4°C in University of Wisconsin solution for up to 6 and 24 hours, significant increases occurred in the labile iron pool, ferritin protein, and heme oxygenase activity.

Cataldo Doria, Lucio Mandalá, Jan Smith, Claudio H. Vitale, Augusto Lauro, Salvatore Gruttadauria, Ignazio R. Marino, Carlo Scotti Foglieni, Mario Magnone, Victor L. Scott – 30 December 2003 – Intractable pruritus is more common in cholestatic liver diseases and may be the presenting symptom and/or major complaint of hepatitis C and/or hepatitic C virus—related cirrhosis. From September 2000 to May 2002, three patients affected by intractable pruritus secondary to hepatitis C cirrhosis that failed medical treatment were treated with a molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS).

Hans L. Tillmann, C. Thomas Bock, Jörg S. Bleck, Jens Rosenau, Klaus H. W. Böker, Hannelore Barg‐Hock, Thomas Becker, Christian Trautwein, Jürgen Klempnauer, Peer Flemming, Michael P. Manns – 30 December 2003 – Fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis is a deleterious manifestation of hepatitis B virus infection in immunocompromised patients. Without treatment, this condition is usually fatal within weeks of onset. Liver retransplantation has not been successfully performed to date, and treatment intervention was generally unsuccessful before the advent of adefovir dipivoxil.

François Mosimann, Vincent Bettschart, Reto Meuli – 30 December 2003