Attenuation of cross-talk between the complement and coagulation cascades by C5a blockade improves early outcomes after intraportal islet transplantation.

Background: Complement 5a factor (C5a) elicits a broad range of proinflammatory effects, including chemotaxis of inflammatory cells and cytokine release. C5a is also linked to the coagulant activity in autoimmune diseases. Therefore, C5a most likely plays a crucial role in the instant blood-mediated inflammatory reaction.

Nucleoside analogue therapy following one-year course of hepatitis B immunoglobulin in preventing hepatitis B virus reactivation after living donor liver transplantation.

The combination therapy with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and nucleoside analogue is well tolerated for the hepatitis B recipients after liver transplantation, but its cost is an important problem in these days. Here we report the efficacy of nucleoside analogue therapy following one-year course of HBIG plus nucleoside analogue after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Out of 103 LDLTs, we selected 14 recipients who received the post-transplant therapy against reactivation of hepatitis B virus for more than 30 months.

[Severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia after ABO match living donor liver transplantation].

A case of severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia after ABO matched living donor liver transplantation. We present here a case of severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia after ABO matched living donor liver transplantation. The patient is 56 y.

Long-term outcome of ABO-incompatible living-donor liver transplantation: a single-center experience.

Purpose: We report the long-term outcome of ABO-incompatible living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) performed in our hospital.

Methods: We started the LDLT program in 1991 and from that year up to now (2008) 11 patients have received an ABO-incompatible graft.

Results: Nine out of the 11 cases have survived from 3.

Management of anti-allogeneic antibody elimination by apheresis in living donor liver transplantation.

In this study, we report on the indications and efficacy of the elimination of antiallogeneic antibodies in living donor liver transplant recipients. Seven patients incompatible with the ABO-blood type were subjected to apheresis before transplantation. The procedure resulted in titers being decreased to less than a score of 8.

Usefulness of beta-D glucan in diagnosing Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and monitoring its treatment in a living-donor liver-transplant recipient.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is one of the fatal complications encountered after liver transplantation. The diagnosis of PCP is sometimes very difficult, because detection of the bacteria itself is not easy under some conditions, and the serum level of the chemical mediator is not yet considered to be a definitive diagnostic marker. We report a case of PCP that occurred 3 months after transplantation in a living-donor liver-transplant recipient; the disease developed during the course of outpatient follow-up when the patient's condition was stable.

Long-term outcome after living donor liver transplantation for two cases of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia from a heterozygous donor.

Aim: We experienced two pediatric siblings with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) who received living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) from their parents who were heterozygous for FH.

Methods: The elder brother presented orange cutaneous xanthomas and was diagnosed as homozygous FH at the age of one. The plasma lipid profile showed that his total cholesterol level was 898 mg/dL (23.

Obstructive jaundice caused by biliary stone formation around the stent after liver transplantation.

We report an unusual case of obstructive jaundice caused by a biliary stone, which developed in the stump of a Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy after undergoing LT. The patient was a 13-yr-old male. At 74 days after birth, a hepaticojejunostomy (Kasai's procedure) was performed for the treatment of biliary atresia.

Risk factors and impact of beta-D glucan on invasive fungal infection for the living donor liver transplant recipients.

Invasive fungal infection is a fatal complication in liver transplantation and it is very difficult to diagnose at the early stage. The aim of this study was to review our experience with invasive fungal infections in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) and to analyze the risk factors and the impact of beta-D glucan. From 1991 to 2005, 96 LDLTs were performed in our institution and we measured the serum level of beta-D glucan in order to clarify the diagnosis.

Usage of deoxyspergualin on steroid-resistant acute rejection in living donor liver transplantation.

Deoxyspergualin (DSG) is an immunosuppressive agent used to treat steroid-resistant acute rejection after kidney transplantation. But in the case of acute rejection after liver transplantation, DSG was reported effective in just a few cases. From July 1991 to November 2005, 96 patients underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLTx) in our institution.

Improved quality of life and unchanged magnetic resonance brain imaging after living donor liver transplantation for late-onset ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency: report of a case.

We report the case of a 7-year-old girl with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency whose quality of life (QOL) improved greatly after a living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency had been diagnosed when she was 2 years old and she finally underwent LDLT, with her father as the donor, when she was 7 years old. The patient had suffered episodes of hyperammonemic encephalopathy ranging from lethargy to coma, treated by hemodialysis twice before LDLT, and her intelligence quotient was borderline for her age.

Hepatic resection of giant metastatic tumor from clear cell carcinoma of the ovary.

All cancer patients, particularly those treated for colorectal cancer, should be monitored for the presence of liver metastases, but liver metastases from ovarian clear cell carcinoma are quite rare. We report a patient subjected to extended left hepatectomy due to a giant metastasis 5 years after surgical treatment for an ovarian neoplasm that was histopathologically diagnosed as clear cell carcinoma. A 58-year-old woman had undergone hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy due to ovarian cancer (stage Ic).

Successful use of anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (rituximab) for ABO-incompatible living-related liver transplantation.

Background: Humoral rejection after ABO-incompatible liver transplantation often causes graft loss and a life-threatening situation. We used rituximab, which can eliminate B cells highly selectively, as an additional therapy for ABO-incompatible living-related liver transplantation.

Cases: Patient 1 was a 1-year-old girl with biliary atresia.