Arterial hypoperfusion as a negative predictive marker for primary hepatic malignancies treated with Y-90 glass microsphere transarterial radioembolization.

Background: Radioembolization with yttrium-90 (Y-90) is utilized to treat primary liver malignancies. The efficacy of this intra-arterial therapy in arterially hypoperfused tumors is not known.

Methods: We reviewed data of patients with primary liver tumors treated with Y-90 prescription doses of at least 150 Gy.

Robotic performance metrics model fellow proficiency in living donor nephrectomy.

We investigated the use of robotic objective performance metrics (OPM) to predict number of cases to proficiency and independence among abdominal transplant fellows performing robot-assisted donor nephrectomy (RDN). 101 RDNs were performed by 5 transplant fellows from September 2020 to October 2023. OPM included fellow percent active control time (%ACT) and handoff counts (HC).

Cross-fellowship Inter-institutional Exchange: Answering the Call for Hepatopancreatobiliary Training Standardization.

Objective: General surgery trainees interested in performing hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) surgery can choose from multiple fellowship pathways, namely HPB, surgical oncology (SO), and abdominal transplant-HPB (TXP-HPB). Although focused on similar operations, each program offers distinct clinical and technical emphases.

Design: An annual inter-institutional exchange between TXP-HPB and SO fellowships, starting in 2014.

Liver Transplant Costs and Activity After United Network for Organ Sharing Allocation Policy Changes.

Importance: A new liver allocation policy was implemented by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) in February 2020 with the stated intent of improving access to liver transplant (LT). There are growing concerns nationally regarding the implications this new system may have on LT costs, as well as access to a chance for LT, which have not been captured at a multicenter level.

Objective: To characterize LT volume and cost changes across the US and within specific center groups and demographics after the policy implementation.

Utilization of older deceased donors for pediatric liver transplant may negatively impact long-term survival.

Background: Multiple adult studies have investigated the role of older donors (ODs) in expanding the donor pool. However, the impact of donor age on pediatric liver transplantation (LT) has not been fully elucidated.

Methods: UNOS database was used to identify pediatric (≤18 years) LTs performed in the United States during 2002-22.

Expanding the Boundaries for Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer, which was the third most common cause of cancer death worldwide in 2020. Transplantation remains the preferred treatment for cure in otherwise unresectable HCC. There are several areas of active research that have led to expansion of eligibility criteria for transplantation including local-regional therapy for downstaging patients presenting outside of the Milan criteria and identification of tumor biomarkers aiding in the early diagnosis, determining prognosis and likelihood of recurrence after transplantation for HCC.

Downstaging Hepatocellular Carcinoma before Transplantation: Role of Immunotherapy Versus Locoregional Approaches.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) continues to be a leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. With advances in locoregional therapy for unresectable HCC during the last 2 decades and the recent expansion of transplant criteria for HCC, as well as ongoing organ shortages, patients are spending more time on the waitlist, which has resulted in an increased usage of locoregional therapies. The plethora of molecularly targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors under investigation represent the new horizon of treatment of HCC not only in advanced stages but also potentially at every stage of diagnosis and management.

An international consensus on effective, inclusive, and career-spanning short-format training in the life sciences and beyond.

Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) fields change rapidly and are increasingly interdisciplinary. Commonly, STEMM practitioners use short-format training (SFT) such as workshops and short courses for upskilling and reskilling, but unaddressed challenges limit SFT's effectiveness and inclusiveness. Education researchers, students in SFT courses, and organizations have called for research and strategies that can strengthen SFT in terms of effectiveness, inclusiveness, and accessibility across multiple dimensions.

Spatial analysis with SPIAT and spaSim to characterize and simulate tissue microenvironments.

Spatial proteomics technologies have revealed an underappreciated link between the location of cells in tissue microenvironments and the underlying biology and clinical features, but there is significant lag in the development of downstream analysis methods and benchmarking tools. Here we present SPIAT (spatial image analysis of tissues), a spatial-platform agnostic toolkit with a suite of spatial analysis algorithms, and spaSim (spatial simulator), a simulator of tissue spatial data. SPIAT includes multiple colocalization, neighborhood and spatial heterogeneity metrics to characterize the spatial patterns of cells.

COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Operative Outcomes after Kidney Transplantation.

Background: Kidney transplantation remains the best available treatment for end-stage renal disease. However, promoting graft longevity and preventing allosensitization requires strict adherence with a stringent immunosuppression regimen. The COVID-19 pandemic has offered new challenges for kidney transplant patients and many transplant centers are denying transplantation to unvaccinated patients.

Sclerosing Epithelioid Fibrosarcoma of the Liver in a Pediatric Patient.

Sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma (SEF) is a rare but aggressive sarcoma. We report the first case of hepatic SEF in pediatric patient, which is also the second case in literature. A 17-year-old previously healthy female presented with a liver mass measuring 13.

Galaxy Training: A powerful framework for teaching!

There is an ongoing explosion of scientific datasets being generated, brought on by recent technological advances in many areas of the natural sciences. As a result, the life sciences have become increasingly computational in nature, and bioinformatics has taken on a central role in research studies. However, basic computational skills, data analysis, and stewardship are still rarely taught in life science educational programs, resulting in a skills gap in many of the researchers tasked with analysing these big datasets.

Characterization of Biomarkers of Hemostasis and Bleeding-Related Outcomes in Children With Cirrhosis.

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate differences in laboratory tests, bleeding, transfusions, and thrombosis between (1) children without and with cirrhosis and (2) children and adults with cirrhosis, and to correlate thromboelastography (TEG) parameters with biomarkers of hemostasis, bleeding, and transfusions in children and adults with cirrhosis.

Methods: This single-center, retrospective study included 20 children without cirrhosis, 40 children with cirrhosis, and 40 adults with cirrhosis who underwent a liver transplant (LT). We collected demographic data, preoperative laboratory values, and intraoperative TEG parameters.

Oligometastatic Rectal Adenocarcinoma Treated With Short-Course Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy With Nonoperative Intent of the Primary for Locoregional Complete Responders.

Purpose: Nonoperative management with short-course radiation therapy (SCRT) as a component of definitive therapy for oligometastatic rectal cancer has not been previously reported. This single-institution retrospective analysis evaluates treatment with SCRT in combination with chemotherapy (SCRT-CTX) with nonoperative intent for patients with a locoregional clinical complete response (cCR).

Methods And Materials: Thirty-six patients with newly diagnosed oligometastatic rectal cancer were treated with SCRT-CTX between January 1, 2018, and May 31, 2020.

Outcomes Analyses of Pediatric Acute Liver Failure Subjects Listed for Liver Transplantation.

Background: We characterized recent outcomes in US pediatric acute liver failure (PALF) subjects listed for liver transplantation (LT) using the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) database.

Methods: Pediatric subjects listed for LT from 2002 to 2015 were assigned to the "PALF" group based on status 1/1A listing, INR >2, no hepatic artery thrombosis, and no primary graft nonfunction (N = 397). Subjects were assigned to the "non-PALF" group if listed with any status other than 1/1A (N = 4509).

Outcomes following formation of a dedicated pediatric liver transplant anesthesia team.

Background: Given the complex nature of liver transplant surgery, adult centers typically use a dedicated liver transplant anesthesia team, which has improved patient outcomes.

Aims: Our goal was to determine whether a dedicated pediatric liver transplant anesthesia team was associated with improved patient outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed patients who underwent liver transplantation from April 2013 to September 2020 at St.

Liver allograft findings of donation after cardiac death versus brain death in recipients with hepatitis C related cirrhosis: a matched histologic comparison.

As the demand for organ transplantation increases, utilization of liver allografts of donation after cardiac death (DCD) is becoming increasingly necessary. Although the clinical outcomes of DCD allografts have been well described, the histologic features are not well characterized. Liver biopsies (n = 131) from age-matched DCD (n = 60) and donation after brain death (DBD; n = 71) recipients with hepatitis C virus were compared.

A Single-Center Study on the Outcomes of Target Limb Revascularization in Femoropopliteal Lesions Treated With Drug Coated Balloons and Bare Metal Stents.

Purpose: Multiple randomized controlled trials have shown that both drug coated balloons (DCBs) and bare metal stents (BMSs) significantly reduce restenosis in femoropopliteal lesions compared with plain balloon angioplasty. However, few studies have directly compared DCB and BMS treatments. Therefore, the goal of our study was to determine if the rate of target lesion revascularization (TLR) differs between DCB and BMS treatment at our center.

Characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of neutropenia after liver or kidney transplantation in children.

Background: While prior adult studies have shown that approximately 20%-38% of subjects undergoing solid-organ transplant develop neutropenia, similar analyses in pediatric subjects are scarce.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of liver transplant (LT) and kidney transplant (KT) recipients at our center during the period 2008-2018. All of the KT and none of the LT subjects during this time period had induction with either anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) or basiliximab at time of transplant.

Liver transplantation for post-COVID-19 sclerosing cholangitis.

Since identified in December 2019, COVID-19 has remained a pandemic across the globe. Although primarily a respiratory illness, the impact of COVID-19 on other end organs has been increasingly identified. The effect of COVID-19 on the liver has yet to be completely understood.

Interfacing Seurat with the R tidy universe.

Motivation: Seurat is one of the most popular software suites for the analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing data. Considering the popularity of the tidyverse ecosystem, which offers a large set of data display, query, manipulation, integration and visualization utilities, a great opportunity exists to interface the Seurat object with the tidyverse. This interface gives the large data science community of tidyverse users the possibility to operate with familiar grammar.