Orthotopic liver transplantation for unresectable hepatoblastoma.

Background: The outcome of treatment for advanced hepatoblastoma has recently improved after the introduction of preoperative or pre- and postoperative cisplatin-containing chemotherapy combined with complete surgical excision. The role of liver transplantation in a population of patients who have received this regimen has not been clearly defined.

Methods: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) was performed in 13 children, aged 5 months to 11 years (median 27 months), who were assessed with unresectable hepatoblastoma, and whose pretreatment extent-of-disease was based on radiologic findings of group III (n=11) and group IV (n=2).

Results of split liver transplantation in children.

Objective: To analyze the outcome of 80 consecutive pediatric split liver transplants performed at the authors' center between 1994 and 2000.

Summary Background Data: Split liver transplantation has become an accepted method of increasing the number of available grafts for pediatric liver transplant recipients.

Methods: The age of the patients at the time of transplantation ranged from 5 days to 16 years (median 3 years).

Evidence of differential risk for posttransplantation malignancy based on pretransplantation cause in patients undergoing liver transplantation.

Organ transplant recipients are considered to be at greater risk for developing malignancy because of the prolonged immunosuppression associated with organ grafting. The purpose of this study is to determine risk factors, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of de novo nonlymphoid malignancies after liver transplantation from a large single-center series. All patients undergoing liver transplantation at the King's College Hospital (London, UK) between January 1988 and December 1999 were analyzed retrospectively for the development of de novo malignancy in the posttransplantation period.

Liver transplantation for Budd-Chiari syndrome.

Background: Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) is a clinical condition characterized by hepatic venous outflow obstruction secondary to an underlying systemic predisposition to thrombosis.

Methods: We reviewed our experience of 19 adult patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation for BCS from April 1988 to May 1999 to assess their long-term outcome and specific complications related to this procedure.

Results: Of these patients, 13 presented with chronic and 6 with acute liver failure.