Publications by authors named "John J Fung"

Background: Pancreatoduodenectomy is associated with an increased incidence of surgical-site infections, often leading to a significant rise in morbidity and mortality. This trend underlines the inadequacy of traditional antibiotic prophylaxis strategies. Hence, the aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the outcomes of antimicrobial prophylaxis, comparing piperacillin/tazobactam with traditional antibiotics.

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Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality following kidney transplantation. Heart failure affects 17-21% of patients with chronic kidney disease and increases along with time receiving dialysis. The Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHFM) is a validated mortality risk model for heart failure patients that incorporates clinical, therapeutic, and laboratory parameters but does not include measures of kidney function.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion (HMP-O2) is a new technique for preserving liver grafts, showing better results against traditional static cold storage (SCS) by reducing ischemia-reperfusion injury.
  • The PILOT trial, a multicenter randomized study, involved 179 participants divided between HMP-O2 and SCS; results indicated noninferiority, with early allograft dysfunction rates of 11.1% for HMP-O2 compared to 16.4% for SCS.
  • HMP-O2 also associated with a lower risk of early graft failure, primary nonfunction, and biliary strictures, suggesting it may enhance liver transplant outcomes in clinical settings.
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Article Synopsis
  • * A recent symposium brought together experts to discuss ways to improve living kidney donation, focusing on ethical considerations around donor compensation and the potential benefits, such as saving lives and reducing taxpayer costs.
  • * Consensus among the discussants pointed to the need for removing barriers in the donor evaluation process, promoting living donor chains, ensuring donor safety, and covering any costs incurred by donors to enhance donation rates.
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Introduction: Various studies have demonstrated that low-Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) living-donor liver transplant (LDLT) recipients have better outcomes with improved patient survival than deceased-donor liver transplantation (DDLT) recipients. LDLT recipients gain the most from being transplanted at MELD <25-30; however, some existing data have outlined that LDLT may provide equivalent outcomes in high-MELD and low-MELD patients, although the term "high" MELD is arbitrarily defined in the literature and various cut-off scores are outlined between 20 and 30, although most commonly, the dividing threshold is 25. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare LDLT in high-MELD with that in low-MELD recipients to determine patient survival and graft survival, as well as perioperative and postoperative complications.

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Small-for-size syndrome (SFSS) following living donor liver transplantation is a complication that can lead to devastating outcomes such as prolonged poor graft function and possibly graft loss. Because of the concern about the syndrome, some transplants of mismatched grafts may not be performed. Portal hyperperfusion of a small graft and hyperdynamic splanchnic circulation are recognized as main pathogenic factors for the syndrome.

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Background: Biliary atresia (BA) remains the number one indication for paediatric liver transplantation (LT) worldwide but is an uncommon indication for older LT recipients. The impact of recent donor allocation changes, pervasive organ shortage and evolving LT practices on the BA LT population is unknown.

Methods: We identified patients who underwent LT between January 2010 and December 2021 using the UNOS database.

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The liver is the most common site of colorectal cancer metastasis. Complete resection of the metastatic tumor is currently the only treatment modality available with a potential for cure. However, only 20% of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) are considered resectable at the time of presentation.

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Clinical islet allotransplantation has been successfully regulated as tissue/organ for transplantation in number of countries and is recognized as a safe and efficacious therapy for selected patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, in the United States, the FDA considers pancreatic islets as a biologic drug, and islet transplantation has not yet shifted from the experimental to the clinical arena for last 20 years. In order to transplant islets, the FDA requires a valid Biological License Application (BLA) in place.

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Background: Calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based immunosuppression in liver transplantation (LTx) is associated with acute and chronic deterioration of kidney function. Delaying CNI initiation by using induction rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG) may provide kidneys with adequate time to recover from a perioperative insult reducing the risk of early post-LTx renal deterioration.

Methods: This was an open-label, multicenter, randomized controlled clinical trial comparing use of induction rATG with delayed CNI initiation (d 10) against upfront CNI commencement (standard of care [SOC]) in those patients deemed at standard risk of postoperative renal dysfunction following LTx.

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Hospitals have severely curtailed the performance of nonurgent surgical procedures in anticipation of the need to redeploy healthcare resources to meet the projected massive medical needs of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Surgical treatment of non-COVID-19 related disease during this period, however, still remains necessary. The decision to proceed with medically necessary, time-sensitive (MeNTS) procedures in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic requires incorporation of factors (resource limitations, COVID-19 transmission risk to providers and patients) heretofore not overtly considered by surgeons in the already complicated processes of clinical judgment and shared decision-making.

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Objectives: De novo steatosis after liver transplant is common and can occur in up to one-third of patients who are transplanted for liver disease other than for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Genetic factors may influence posttransplant steatosis; in a posttransplant setting, donor or recipient genetic factors could also play roles. Genetic polymorphisms in the adiponectin gene have been associated with metabolic syndrome in the pretransplant setting.

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Hepatic malignancies are one of the leading causes of cancer death globally. Considering the limited efficacy of current standard treatments in management of patients with advanced liver cancers, there has been a growing interest in identifying novel therapies. Despite achieving promising results in initial clinical trials, the therapeutic benefit of immunotherapy is limited due to strong immune-tolerogenic characteristics of liver tumors.

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Background: Liver transplantation to treat neuroendocrine tumors, especially in the setting of diffuse liver involvement not amenable to operative resection remains controversial. We sought to perform a systematic review of the current literature to summarize data on patients undergoing liver transplantation with neuroendocrine tumors liver metastases as the indication.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted in accordance to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines.

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Background: Tumour morphological criteria for determining the appropriateness of liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma poorly estimate post-transplantation mortality. The aim of this study was to develop and assess the utility of a continuous risk score in predicting overall survival following liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: We did a retrospective cohort analysis to develop a continuous multivariable risk score for assessment of overall survival following liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.

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The use of liver transplantation (LT) for liver metastases attempted in the early 1990's was associated with poor perioperative outcomes and unacceptably low overall survival. Recently, there has been renewed interest in LT as a treatment option for colorectal liver metastases (CLM) in countries where organ supply is high. To date, no meticulous analysis about the efficacy, safety and outcomes of LT in CLM patients has been published.

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The evolution of managing short gut syndrome optimizes management and decision making of intestinal failure by way of a multidisciplinary team utilizing the latest advances in therapeutic options. Only the minority of patients referred for small bowel transplantation will actually need a transplant. Many of these patients can be rehabilitated without the need for transplant, by way of early referral, and thus the likelihood of medical therapy increases.

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