Publications by authors named "Paolo Simone"

Background And Aims: There is growing interest in the environmental impact of surgical procedures, yet more information is needed specifically regarding liver transplantation. This study aims to quantify the total greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon footprint, associated with adult whole-size liver transplantation from donors after brain death, including the relevant back-table graft preparation.

Methods: The carbon footprint was calculated retrospectively using a bottom-up approach.

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Background & Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Liver transplantation (LT) is a curative treatment option. We investigated survival outcomes based on recipient-donor sex constellation (RDSC) following LT.

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  • The study aimed to assess the likelihood of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in solid-organ transplant (SOT) recipients during the year following their transplant.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 191 SOT patients who had their first CDI episode, finding a 12% recurrence rate and highlighting that severe CDI and metronidazole monotherapy significantly raised this risk.
  • The findings suggest that using metronidazole alone increases the chances of a recurrence, indicating a need for improved treatment strategies to prevent repeated infections in these patients.
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Background: Cardiovascular events represent a major cause of non-graft-related death after liver transplant. Evidence suggest that chronic inflammation associated with a remarkable oxidative stress in the presence of endothelial dysfunction and procoagulant environment plays a major role in the promotion of thrombosis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not completely understood.

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  • Recent international guidelines have defined metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), leading to a rise in its prevalence as a reason for liver transplantation (LT) in Italy between 2012 and 2022.
  • * An analysis of 1,941 patients with MASLD and 11,201 without MASLD revealed that while the prevalence of MASLD patients waiting for LT increased significantly, it did not independently affect patient survival post-transplant.
  • * Patients with non-HCC MASLD faced higher mortality rates on the waiting list but projected better 5-year transplant survival benefits than those without MASLD or HCC.
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Background: The challenge of transplant waiting-lists is to provide organs for all candidates while maintaining efficiency and equity.

Aims: We investigated the probability of being transplanted or of waiting-list dropout in Italy.

Methods: Data from 12,749 adult patients waitlisted for primary liver-transplantation from January 2012 to December 2022 were collected from the National Transplant-Registry.

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  • Liver transplantation (LT) was once thought not to work for a type of cancer called perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (pCCA), but a new method from the Mayo Clinic showed it could help if patients followed strict rules and took certain treatments first.
  • In a study of 22 liver transplant centers in Italy, 53 patients with pCCA were looked at, with some getting special treatment before the transplant and others not.
  • The results showed that patients who had the pre-treatment did better after 1, 3, and 5 years compared to those who didn’t, leading to talks about making new rules for how to treat this cancer better in Italy.
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  • - This national survey aimed to assess the use of liver hypertrophy techniques in Italy, focusing on trends and differences among various medical centers.
  • - In December 2022, 46 centers completed a detailed online questionnaire, revealing that hypertrophy techniques were used in 6.2% of liver resections, with PVE and ALPPS being the most common techniques employed.
  • - The findings indicated that while these techniques play a crucial role in increasing resectability, there is substantial inconsistency in how centers define the need for them and the protocols used for patient allocation.
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Introduction: In Italy, post-liver transplant (LT) hepatitis B virus (HBV) reinfection prophylaxis is frequently based on a combined regimen of anti-HBV immunoglobulin (HBIG) and oral antivirals. However, little information is available at the national level on the cost of LT and the contribution of HBV prophylaxis. This study aimed to quantify the direct healthcare cost for adult patients undergoing LT for HBV-related disease over a lifetime horizon and from the perspective of a National Healthcare Service.

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Purpose: Advances in surgical procedures and immunosuppressive therapies have considerably improved the outcomes of patients who have undergone liver transplantation in the past few decades. In 2020, the Italian Liver Transplant Working Group published practice-oriented algorithms for immunosuppressive therapy (IT) in adult liver transplant (LT) recipients. Due to the rapidly evolving LT field, regular updates to the recommendations are required.

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  • This study analyzes the effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) on liver transplant outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), focusing on allograft rejection, recurrence, and survival rates.* -
  • Out of 91 patients studied, 26.4% experienced allograft rejection, with age and the length of ICI washout being significant risk factors; there were no differences in overall survival between patients with and without rejection.* -
  • The findings suggest that with a proper washout period of around 3 months, the risk of allograft rejection may be comparable to patients not exposed to ICIs, indicating that further research is needed to validate these results.*
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Despite global expansion, social disparities impact all phases of liver transplantation, from patient referral to post-transplant care. In pediatric populations, socioeconomic deprivation is associated with delayed referral, higher waitlist mortality, and reduced access to living donor transplantation. Children from socially deprived communities are twice as much less adherent to immunosuppression and have up to a 32% increased incidence of graft failure.

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  • - The study investigates the factors that predict the development of inhibitors (neutralizing antibodies) against factor VIII (FVIII) in hemophilia A patients, highlighting that both genetic and environmental influences are not fully understood.
  • - Researchers used HA and wild-type (WT) mice to examine immune responses after exposure to FVIII and ovalbumin (OVA), assessing antibody levels and immune cell dynamics over nine weeks.
  • - Findings revealed that humoral responses to FVIII were similar between HA and WT groups, but HA T cells showed heightened sensitivity and increased memory T-cell activation and proliferation, indicating a distinct immune response in hemophilia A.
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To obtain long-term data on the use of everolimus in patients who underwent liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma, we conducted a retrospective, single-center analysis of adult recipients transplanted between 2013 and 2021. Patients on everolimus-incorporating immunosuppression were matched with those on tacrolimus using an inverse probability of treatment weighting methodology. Two propensity-matched groups of patients were thus compared: 233 (45.

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To date, caval sparing (CS) and total caval replacement (TCR) for recipient hepatectomy in liver transplantation (LT) have been compared only in terms of surgical morbidity. Nonetheless, the CS technique is inherently associated with an increased manipulation of the native liver and later exclusion of the venous outflow, which may increase the risk of intraoperative shedding of tumor cells when LT is performed for HCC. A multicenter, retrospective study was performed to assess the impact of recipient hepatectomy (CS vs.

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Background: In Italy, 20 min of continuous, flat-line electrocardiogram are required for death declaration. Despite prolonged warm ischemia time, Italian centers reported good outcomes in controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) liver transplantation by combining normothermic regional and end-ischemic machine perfusion (MP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the use of septuagenarian and octogenarian cDCD donors with this approach.

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Background: In Italy, data on long-term survivors after liver transplantation are lacking.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a hybrid design study on a cohort of 359 adult recipients who received transplants between 1996 and 2002 to identify predictors of survival and the prevalence of co-morbidities among long-term survivors.

Results: The actuarial (95% CI) patient survival was 96% (94.

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In the setting of minimally invasive liver surgery (MILS), training in robotic liver resections (RLR) usually follows previous experience in laparoscopic liver resections (LLR). The aim of our study was to assess the learning curve of RLR in case of concomitant training with LLR. We analyzed consecutive RLRs and LLRs by a surgeon trained simultaneously in both techniques (Surg1); while a second surgeon trained only in LLRs was used as control (Surg2).

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Older liver transplant recipients have a lower risk of acute rejection than younger patients (9% for patients aged ≥65 years versus 23% for those aged 18-34 years) and are more vulnerable to immunosuppression-related complications. The number of liver transplant recipients ≥65 years has risen to 22% in Europe and the US, but limited information is available on the optimal immunosuppressive regimen for these patients. In this review, we discuss the appropriate management of immunosuppressive agents in older adults to minimize adverse events while avoiding acute rejection.

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Aim: Healthy lifestyle and appropriate diet are of critical importance after liver transplant (LT). We provided an analysis of the main patterns of physical activity and found factors associated with physical activity itself.

Methods: Clinically stable LT recipients were enrolled between June and September 2021.

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Liver transplantation from elderly donors is expanding due to demand for liver grafts, aging of recipients and donors, and introduction of machine perfusion. We report on a liver transplant from a 100-year-old deceased donor after brain death. The liver was transplanted after the use of hypothermic machine perfusion to a 60-year-old recipient with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing neoadjuvant immunotherapy.

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Background: The advantages of the robotic approach in minimally invasive liver surgery (MILS) are still debated. This study compares the short-term outcomes between laparoscopic (LLR) and robotic (RLR) liver resections in propensity score matched cohorts.

Methods: Data regarding minimally invasive liver resections in two liver surgery units were retrospectively reviewed.

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