Liver transplantation has become the mainstay for the treatment of end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular cancer and some metabolic disorders. Its main drawback, though, is the disparity between the number of donors and the patients needing a liver graft. In this review we will discuss the recent changes regarding organ allocation, extended donor criteria, living donor liver transplantation and potential room for improvement. The gap between the number of donors and patients needing a liver graft forced the transplant community to introduce an objective model such as the modified model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) in order to obtain a transparent and fair organ allocation system. The use of extended criteria donor livers such as organs from older donors or steatotic grafts is one possibility to reduce the gap between patients on the waiting list and available donors. Finally, living donor liver transplantation has become a standard procedure in specialized centers as another possibility to reduce the donor shortage. Recent data clearly indicate that center experience is of major importance in achieving good results. Great progress has been made in recent years. However, further research is needed to improve results in the future.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2008.01.013 | DOI Listing |
Pediatr Nephrol
January 2025
Department of Paediatric Nephrology, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a life-threatening complication of chronic liver disease (CLD) that currently can be managed only by liver transplant. Though uncommon, some children with kidney disease have coexistent CLD and hence are at risk of developing HPS. Paediatric cases of HPS are rarely described in the nephrology literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Coll Surg
January 2025
Cincinnati Research in Outcomes and Safety in Surgery (CROSS) Research Group. Department of Surgery, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Background: Long-term outcomes of HBV nucleic acid test (NAT)-positive (+) allograft use in seronegative liver transplant (LT) and kidney transplant (KT) recipients remains unknown despite being incorporated into practice by select centers. This study compares long-term outcomes between HBV NAT+ and NAT-negative (-) allografts in seronegative recipients.
Study Design: All recipients of an HBV core antibody-positive (HBcAb+) LT or KT were prospectively evaluated at a single transplant center from 6/2015-3/2023 and compared by NAT status.
Cholangiocarcinoma is a rare and heterogeneous disease that often requires multimodal treatment. The role of liver transplantation in these tumors has been controversial due to historically poor prognosis and higher recurrence rates. However, in recent years, scientific evidence has challenged this notion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJHEP Rep
February 2025
Else Kroener Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Background & Aims: Biliary abnormalities in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and interface hepatitis in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) occur frequently, and misinterpretation may lead to therapeutic mistakes with a negative impact on patients. This study investigates the use of a deep learning (DL)-based pipeline for the diagnosis of AIH and PBC to aid differential diagnosis.
Methods: We conducted a multicenter study across six European referral centers, and built a library of digitized liver biopsy slides dating from 1997 to 2023.
Transpl Int
January 2025
Division of Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, United States.
Liver xenotransplantation has emerged as a potential solution to the shortage of deceased human donor organs and is now becoming a reality due to recent developments in genetic engineering and immunosuppressive therapy. Early efforts using non-human primates and genetically modified pigs faced significant challenges such as thrombocytopenia and graft rejection. Understanding the mechanism behind those challenges and using novel genetically engineered pigs enabled researchers to overcome some of the hurdles, but more research is needed.
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