Are there any benefits of prolonged hypothermic oxygenated perfusion?: Results from a national retrospective study.

Dual hypothermic oxygenated perfusion (DHOPE) is increasingly being used to extend liver preservation to improve transplant logistics. However, little is known about its benefits in high-risk liver grafts. This study aimed to investigate whether prolonged DHOPE provides benefits other than improved logistics in all liver types.

Fairness and pitfalls of the Italian waiting list for elective liver transplantation: The ECALITA registry study.

Background: The challenge of transplant waiting-lists is to provide organs for all candidates while maintaining efficiency and equity.

Aims: We investigated the probability of being transplanted or of waiting-list dropout in Italy.

Methods: Data from 12,749 adult patients waitlisted for primary liver-transplantation from January 2012 to December 2022 were collected from the National Transplant-Registry.

Pathological Consequences in Anti-HCV Antibody-Positive Organ Donation to an Anti-HCV Antibody-Negative Recipient.

Background: The need to expand the pool of available organs for transplantation has meant that the use of marginal organs is increasingly widespread. The advent of antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) has made it possible to consider the donation of organs from HCV-positive donors and even from viremic donors.

Methods: In HCV-positive to HCV-negative antibody donor transplantation, the development of antibodies to HCV is uneven, depending on the organ transplanted and with differences in the time of appearance.

Genome-wide DNA methylation and transcriptomic analysis of liver tissues subjected to early ischemia/reperfusion injury upon human liver transplantation.

Introduction And Objectives: Epigenetic changes represent a mechanism connecting external stresses with long-term modifications of gene expression programs. In solid organ transplantation, ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) appears to induce epigenomic changes in the graft, although the currently available data are extremely limited. The present study aimed to characterize variations in DNA methylation and their effects on the transcriptome in liver transplantation from brain-dead donors.

Recipient hepatectomy technique may affect oncological outcomes of liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.

To date, caval sparing (CS) and total caval replacement (TCR) for recipient hepatectomy in liver transplantation (LT) have been compared only in terms of surgical morbidity. Nonetheless, the CS technique is inherently associated with an increased manipulation of the native liver and later exclusion of the venous outflow, which may increase the risk of intraoperative shedding of tumor cells when LT is performed for HCC. A multicenter, retrospective study was performed to assess the impact of recipient hepatectomy (CS vs.

Changes in chromatin accessibility and transcriptional landscape induced by HDAC inhibitors in TP53 mutated patient-derived colon cancer organoids.

Here we present the generation and characterization of patient-derived organoids (PDOs) from colorectal cancer patients. PDOs derived from two patients with TP53 mutations were tested with two different HDAC inhibitors (SAHA and NKL54). Cell death induction, transcriptome, and chromatin accessibility changes were analyzed.

Portal vein thrombosis and liver transplantation: management, matching, and outcomes. A retrospective multicenter cohort study.

Background And Aims: Besides the increased risk of perioperative morbidity, graft failure, and mortality, the majority of PVT are diagnosed at liver transplantation (LT). Improving preoperative management and patient selection may lead to better short-term and long-term outcomes and reduce the risk of a futile LT. The authors aimed to identify predictors of adverse outcomes after LT in patients with nonmalignant portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and improve donor to recipient matching by analyzing the results of the Italian cohort of LT recipients.

Light-strand bias and enriched zones of embedded ribonucleotides are associated with DNA replication and transcription in the human-mitochondrial genome.

Abundant ribonucleoside-triphosphate (rNTP) incorporation into DNA by DNA polymerases in the form of ribonucleoside monophosphates (rNMPs) is a widespread phenomenon in nature, resulting in DNA-structural change and genome instability. The rNMP distribution, characteristics, hotspots and association with DNA metabolic processes in human mitochondrial DNA (hmtDNA) remain mostly unknown. Here, we utilize the ribose-seq technique to capture embedded rNMPs in hmtDNA of six different cell types.

Improving outcomes of in situ split liver transplantation in Italy over the last 25 years.

Background & Aims: Split liver transplant(ation) (SLT) is still considered a challenging procedure that is by no means widely accepted. We aimed to present data on 25-year trends in SLT in Italy, and to investigate if, and to what extent, outcomes have improved nationwide during this time.

Methods: The study included all consecutive SLTs performed from May 1993 to December 2019, divided into three consecutive periods: 1993-2005, 2006-2014, and 2015-2019, which match changes in national allocation policies.

The Italian data on SARS-CoV-2 infection in transplanted patients support an organ specific immune response in liver recipients.

Introduction: The study of immune response to SARSCoV-2 infection in different solid organ transplant settings represents an opportunity for clarifying the interplay between SARS-CoV-2 and the immune system. In our nationwide registry study from Italy, we specifically evaluated, during the first wave pandemic, i.e.

Association between artificial nutrition in brain dead donors and early allograft function in liver transplant recipients: an observational study.

Background: The role of nutrition in donor after brain deaths (DBDs) has yet to be adequately discussed. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether the nutritional intake in the 48 h before organ retrieval may play a role on the graft functional recovery assessed with Model for Early Allograft Function (MEAF) Score.

Methods: Single-center retrospective study evaluating all liver transplants performed at the University Hospital of Udine from January 2010 to August 2020.

Improving Outcome of Selected Patients With Non-Resectable Hepatic Metastases From Colorectal Cancer With Liver Transplantation: A Prospective Parallel Trial (COLT trial).

Background: Patients with unresectable Colorectal Liver Metastases (CLM) receiving palliative chemotherapy have a 5-year overall survival (OS) of less than 30%. Liver transplantation (LT) can improve OS up to 60%-83% (SECA-I and SECA-II trials). The aim of the study is to assess the efficacy of LT in liver-only metastatic CRC compared with a matched cohort of patients included in a phase III trial on triplet chemotherapy + antiEGFR.

Temporal trends of waitlistings for liver transplantation in Italy: The ECALITA (Evolution of IndiCAtion in LIver transplantation in ITAly) registry study.

Background: Over the last decades relevant epidemiological changes of liver diseases have occurred, together with greatly improved treatment opportunities.

Aim: To investigate how the indications for elective adult liver transplantation and the underlying disease etiologies have evolved in Italy.

Methods: We recruited from the National Transplant Registry a cohort comprising 17,317 adults patients waitlisted for primary liver transplantation from January-2004 to December-2020.

Is the indocyanine green clearance test useful in viral acute liver failure? Maybe!

N/A.

The Effect of Endurance Training on Pulmonary V˙O Kinetics in Solid Organs Transplanted Recipients.

Background: We investigated the effects of single (SL-ET) and double leg (DL-ET) high-intensity interval training on O2 deficit (O2Def) and mean response time (MRT) during square-wave moderate-intensity exercise (DL-MOD), and on the amplitude of V˙O2p slow component (SCamp), during heavy intensity exercise (DL-HVY), on 33 patients (heart transplant = 13, kidney transplanted = 11 and liver transplanted = 9). Methods: Patients performed DL incremental step exercise to exhaustion, two DL-MOD tests, and a DL-HVY trial before and after 24 sessions of SL-ET (n = 17) or DL-ET (n = 16). Results: After SL-ET, O2Def, MRT and SCamp decreased by 16.

PO 21% oxygenated hypothermic machine perfusion in kidney transplantation: Any clinical benefit?

Background: In deceased donor kidney transplantation (KT), the use of hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) has been acquiring the status of best practice in the pre-transplant management of kidney grafts. Two types of HMP are currently available, oxygenated HMP and non-oxygenated HMP. However, data on the real clinical impact of oxygenation on KT outcome are still heterogeneous.

Re-thinking of T-tube use in whole liver transplantation: an analysis on the risk of delayed graft function.

The liver-gut axis has been identified as crucial mediator of liver regeneration. Thus, the use of a T-tube in liver transplantation (LT), which interrupts the enterohepatic bile circulation, may potentially have a detrimental effect on the early allograft functional recovery. We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 261 patients transplanted with a whole liver graft, with a duct-to-duct biliary anastomosis, who did not develop any surgical complication within postoperative day 14.

Current practice with grafts with multiple renal arteries in kidney transplantation: role of the methylene blue in the lower pole.

Kidneys with multiple renal arteries (MRAs) from different patches, may provide to the surgeon additional technical difficulties that make kidney transplants very challenging. MRAs have been largely debated over the years whether to be anastomosed or not due to the disappointing outcomes when it comes to inappropriate ligation or anastomosis.  Some authors empirically reassure that smaller branches can be safely ligated and dissected without intraoperative and postoperative complications or compromising the functional recovery of the graft.

Association between preoperative diastolic dysfunction and early allograft dysfunction after orthotopic liver transplantation: An observational study.

Objectives: To investigate the association between the grade of diastolic dysfunction (DD) and the occurrence of early allograft dysfunction (EAD) in liver transplant patients following the new 2016 American Society of Echocardiography/European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (ASE/EACVI) guidelines.

Methods: From January 2015 to December 2019, we retrospectively analyzed 83 patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTx) and their susceptibility to develop EAD according to the grade of preoperative DD. EAD was defined according to the criteria proposed by Olfhoff et al.

Reinfection of Transplanted Livers in HCV- and HCV/HIV-Infected Patients Is Characterized by a Different MicroRNA Expression Profile.

Background: After liver transplantation, HCV/HIV co-infected patients present, compared to the HCV mono-infected ones, increased HCV viral load, rapid progression to liver fibrosis and higher mortality. Liver biopsies (LB), obtained routinely 6 months after transplantation, represent a unique model to assess the early events related to graft re-infection. Here, we used miRNA sequencing of LB obtained from both HCV-and HCV/HIV-infected recipients, to identify transcriptional profiles able to explain the more severe outcome of these latter.

Assessment of hepatic steatosis based on needle biopsy images from deceased donor livers.

Background: Assessment of hepatic steatosis (HS) before transplantation requires the pathologist to read a graft biopsy. A simple method based on the evaluation of images from tissue samples with a smartphone could expedite and facilitate the liver selection. This study aims to assess the degree of HS by analysing photographic images from liver needle biopsy samples.

TFEB, SIRT1, CARM1, Beclin-1 expression and PITX2 methylation in breast cancer chemoresistance: a retrospective study.

Background: Breast cancer chemoresistance is attributed to a wide variety of mechanisms, including autophagy. Transcription factor EB (TFEB) has been recently identified and characterized as one major regulator of autophagy and lysosomal genesis.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the prognostic impact of TFEB and its pathway in breast cancer chemoresistance.

The Challenging Management of an Intracardiac Thrombus in a Liver Transplant Patient at the Reperfusion Phase: A Case Report and Brief Literature Review.

The exact origin of intracardiac thrombi formation during orthotopic liver transplant remains unknown. The altered balance between hypercoagulability, hypocoagulation, and endothelial dysfunction associated with end-stage liver disease is thought to play a pivotal role. Venous stasis, vascular clamping, and reperfusion could also contribute to clot formation.