Subnormothermic Oxygenated Machine Perfusion (24 h) in DCD Kidney Transplantation.

Background: Ex vivo kidney perfusion is an evolving platform that demonstrates promise in preserving and rehabilitating the kidney grafts. Despite this, there is little consensus on the optimal perfusion conditions. Hypothermic perfusion offers limited functional assessment, whereas normothermic perfusion requires a more complex mechanical system and perfusate.

Integrating Navigation-Assisted Ablation in the Locoregional Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Importance: With the increasing prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), ablative therapy is a critical treatment option to achieve a cancer-free state. The anatomic location of the tumor can be a challenge, and select hepatic locations of a tumor require laparoscopic-assisted strategies to safely reach and treat the lesion.

Objective: To assess the association of real-time ultrasonography-augmented navigation for HCC ablation with patient survival, operative time, and rate of incomplete ablations.

Patient-reported symptoms and interest in symptom monitoring in HCC treated with locoregional therapies: A qualitative study.

Background: Patient-reported outcomes (PRO) measures relevant to domains most important to patients with HCC who received locoregional therapies are needed to advance patient-centered research. Furthermore, electronic PRO monitoring in clinical care has been shown to reduce hospitalizations and deaths in patients with other cancers. We conducted a qualitative study among patients with HCC who recently received locoregional therapies to (1) identify common and distressing posttreatment symptoms to prioritize PRO domain selection and (2) gauge interest in an electronic PRO symptom monitoring system.

Pancreas patch grafting to treat type 1 diabetes.

Stem/progenitor cell therapy is a promising treatment option for patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) a disease characterized by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β cells. Actively injecting cells into an organ is one option for cell delivery, but in the pancreas, this contributes to acute inflammation and pancreatitis. We employed a patch grafting approach to transplant biliary tree stem cells/progenitor cells (BTSC) onto the surface of the pancreas in diabetic mice.

Thermal ablation compared to stereotactic body radiation therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: A multicenter retrospective comparative study.

Background Aims: Early-stage HCC can be treated with thermal ablation or stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). We retrospectively compared local progression, mortality, and toxicity among patients with HCC treated with ablation or SBRT in a multicenter, US cohort.

Approach Results: We included adult patients with treatment-naïve HCC lesions without vascular invasion treated with thermal ablation or SBRT per individual physician or institutional preference from January 2012 to December 2018.

Impact of kidney transplant on post-operative morbidity and mortality in patients with pre-operative cardiac dysfunction.

Background: Several studies show an increase in complications, both cardiac and non-cardiac, and a higher mortality in patients with preexisting cardiac disease when they undergo elective surgery. Due to the high incidence of cardiac dysfunction in patients with concomitant chronic kidney disease, we wanted to determine if the same negative impact is demonstrated in patients undergoing kidney transplantation.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was done on 582 patients who underwent kidney transplant from a single transplant center between 2014 and 2019.

Indocyanine Green as a Navigational Adjunct for Laparoscopic Ablation of Liver Tumors.

Background: Minimally invasive operative approaches for resection and thermal ablation (eg, microwave, radiofrequency) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been successfully implemented over the last two decades, although identifying tumors can be challenging. Successfully performing laparoscopic ablation requires real-time visualization and ultrasonography skills for direct placement of the ablation probe.

Methods: In this study, we introduce a novel adjunct to ultrasound imaging for tumors located near or on the surface of the liver via intravenous delivery of indocyanine green (ICG) dye.

Risk of intra-abdominal seeding after laparoscopic-assisted thermal ablation of exophytic hepatocellular carcinoma tumors.

Background: Laparoscopic-assisted thermal ablation has been used successfully to treat early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumors, defined as < 3 cm in diameter. This approach allows for ablation of tumors located in areas of the liver that are otherwise inaccessible for a percutaneous approach. Thermal ablation of exophytic tumors remains controversial due to a reported increased risk of tumor seeding of the abdominal cavity and incomplete ablation.

Management of Major Injuries to the Bile Duct at a Hepatobiliary Specialty Referral Center.

Introduction: Aim is to evaluate geographical and demographic factors influencing management of bile duct injuries occurring during cholecystectomy in a tertiary hepato-pancreato-biliary center in Southeast US.

Methods: All referrals for biliary injuries during cholecystectomy, between Jan 2017 and December 2020 were included.

Results: 19 patients were identified with a median age of 59 (47-65), average BMI of 30.

Changing opportunities for liver transplant for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Introduction: Aim was to study the early impact of acuity circle-based allocation implementation system on liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients.

Methods: We assessed characteristics of HCC and non-HCC deceased donor orthotopic liver transplants (OLT) in the year before (2/2019-2/2020) and after (3/2020-2/2021) introduction of the acuity circle policy using the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)/United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database.

Results: Total OLTs reduced from 6699 in the preacuity circle era to 6660 in the postacuity circle era (-.

Navigation Improves Tumor Ablation Performance: Results From a Novel Liver Tumor Simulator Study.

Background: The efficacy of microwave ablation in treating hepatic tumors requires advanced ultrasound skills. Failure of proper technique has the potential for either under- or over-treatment and possible harm to the patient. Emprint SX™ navigation provides surgeons with intra-operative, real-time navigation through augmented reality localization of the ablation antenna and the expected ablation zone.

Green Chemistry Preservation and Extraction of Biospecimens for Multi-omic Analyses.

The Environmental Protection Agency's definition of "Green Chemistry" is "the design of chemical products and processes that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycle of a chemical product, including its design, manufacture, use, and ultimate disposal." Conventional omic tissue extraction procedures use solvents that are toxic and carcinogenic, such as chloroform and methyl-tert-butyl ether for lipidomics, or caustic chaotropic solutions for genomics and transcriptomics, such as guanidine or urea.

Radiologic Reporting of Simple Hepatic Cyst Versus Biliary Cystadenoma May Lead to Unnecessary Surgery.

Background And Aims: Simple liver cyst (SHC) is a benign condition with no malignant potential. They are typically discovered incidentally due to the increased use of abdominal imaging, but some patients may present with abdominal pain. A radiologist's differential diagnosis in cases of SHC will often include "rule out biliary cystadenoma.

Potential to Mitigate Disparities in Access to Kidney Transplant in the Hispanic/Latino Population With a Specialized Clinic: Single Center Study Representing Single State Data.

Background: We sought to evaluate potential disparities in kidney transplant rates in a single state in the United States. We studied the potential to mitigate disparities with a specialized clinic using it as a model presentation.

Methods: Based on data from the United States Renal Data System and Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, we estimated the yearly end-stage renal disease and waitlist addition, stratified by race/ethnicity from 2000 to 2018.

Donor-derived herpes simplex virus hepatitis in a kidney transplant recipient and review of the literature.

Donor-derived (DD) herpes simplex virus (HSV) hepatitis in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients is extremely uncommon but carries a high mortality rate. The diagnosis is challenging due to the non-specific presentation and lack of clinical suspicion. We report a case of DDHSV hepatitis in a HSV2 pre-transplant seronegative kidney recipient who received the organ from a HSV2 seropositive donor.

Development of AAV Variants with Human Hepatocyte Tropism and Neutralizing Antibody Escape Capacity.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have been successfully used in patients with bleeding disorders and blindness. For human liver targeting, two major factors restrict effective AAV transduction after systemic administration of AAV vectors: human hepatocyte tropism and neutralizing antibodies (Nabs). In this study, we attempted to isolate AAV variants with the ability to transduce human hepatocytes and escape Nabs using a directed evolution approach .

Temperature Dependence of High Frequency Irreversible Electroporation Evaluated in a 3D Tumor Model.

Electroporation is a bioelectric phenomenon used to deliver target molecules into cells in vitro and irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an emerging cancer therapy used to treat inoperable tumors in situ. These phenomena are generally considered to be non-thermal in nature. In this study, a 3D tumor model was used to investigate the correlation between temperature and the effectiveness of standard clinical IRE and high frequency (H-FIRE) protocols.