Use of Hepatitis C-Positive Deceased Liver Donors in Response to the Organ Shortage in an Endemic Area.

The region of Sicily, Italy, is witnessing a chronic organ shortage. Thus, to face this critical issue, the use of marginal donors has increased over time. An example of marginal donor expansion is the use of liver donors who are positive for the hepatitis C antibody (HCV+) for HCV+ patients requiring liver transplantation (LT).

Predictive factors of downstaging of hepatocellular carcinoma beyond the Milan criteria treated with intra-arterial therapies.

Purpose: This study was designed to analyze the clinical results in patients suitable for liver transplantation with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who exceeded Milan criteria, which underwent intra-arterial therapies (IAT), to determine predictive factors of successful downstaging.

Methods: A total of 277 consecutive patients with cirrhosis and HCC were treated by IAT (transarterial oily chemoembolization, transarterial chemoembolization, transarterial embolization) in a single center. Eighty patients exceed the Milan criteria.

Management of Liver Failure: From Transplantation to Cell-Based Therapy.

The severe shortage of deceased donor organs has driven a search for alternative methods of treating liver failure. In this context, cell-based regenerative medicine is emerging as a promising interdisciplinary field of tissue repair and restoration, able to contribute to improving health in a minimally invasive fashion. Several cell types have allowed long-term survival in experimental models of liver injury, but their therapeutic potential in humans should be regarded with deep caution, because few clinical trials are currently available and the number of patients enrolled so far is too small to assess benefits versus risks.

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt with accidental diagnosis of persistence of the left superior vena cava.

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPSS) is considered a valid therapeutic option for the treatment of portal hypertension and its complications. The guidelines for this procedure have already been established on the basis of the normal vascular anatomy and of various technical radiological aspects. In some few rare cases, diagnosis of a congenital vascular anomaly can be made accidentally by interventional radiologists, making the procedure of the TIPSS placement extremely difficult or in some cases technically impossible.

Early graft dysfunction following adult-to-adult living-related liver transplantation: predictive factors and outcomes.

Aim: To describe a condition that we define as early graft dysfunction (EGD) which can be identified preoperatively.

Methods: Small-for-size graft dysfunction following living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) is characterized by EGD when the graft-to-recipient body weight ratio (GRBWR) is below 0.8%.

Arterial chemoembolization/embolization and early complications after hepatocellular carcinoma treatment: a safe standardized protocol in selected patients with Child class A and B cirrhosis.

Purpose: To assess the safety of transarterial treatments of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and the statistical correlation of various patient factors with the frequency of complications, in selected patients with cirrhosis when adhering to well-standardized protocols.

Materials And Methods: Three hundred twenty consecutive patients with unresectable HCC were treated with transarterial chemoembolization, oil chemoembolization, and embolization. A total of 712 treatments were performed, with an average of 2.

Clinical applications of hepatocyte transplantation.

The shortage of organ donors is a problem worldwide, with approximately 15% of adult patients with life-threatening liver diseases dying while on the waiting list. The use of cell transplantation for liver disease is an attempt to correct metabolic defects, or to support liver function as a bridge to liver transplantation and, as such, has raised a number of expectations. Most of the available studies briefly reported here focus on adult hepatocyte transplantation (HT), and the results are neither reproducible nor comparable, because the means of infusion, amount of injected cells and clinical variability differ among the studies.