The January issue of Transplantation, the official Journal of ILTS and the Transplantation Society, is out now. A must-read for anyone working in the field of liver transplantation.Free access for ILTS members!

Article selections by Ryan Chadha, Sadhana Shankar, Alexandra Shingina, Eleonora DeMartin, Carmen Vinaixa, Youngin Yoon, and Madhukar S Patel

HEPATOLOGY

Transplantation
Modern Outcomes After Liver Retransplantation: A Single-center Experience
Background. The need for liver retransplantation (reLT) has increased proportionally with greater numbers of liver transplants (LTs) performed, use of marginal donors, degree of recipient preoperative liver dysfunction, and longer survival after LT. However, outcomes following reLT have been historically regarded as poor. Methods. To evaluate reLT in modern recipients, we retrospectively examined our single-center experience. More

JAMA Surgery
Association of Frailty With Health-Related Quality of Life in Liver Transplant Recipients
Importance: Frailty has been recognized as a risk factor for mortality after liver transplant (LT) but little is known of its association with functional status and health-related quality of life (HRQL), termed global functional health, in LT recipients. Objective: To evaluate the association between pre-LT and post-LT frailty with post-LT global functional health. More

Liver Transplantation
Outcomes in liver transplant recipients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-related HCC: results from the US multicenter HCC transplant consortium
NAFLD will soon be the most common indication for liver transplantation (LT). In NAFLD, HCC may occur at earlier stages of fibrosis and present with more advanced tumor stage, raising concern for aggressive disease. Thus, adult LT recipients with HCC from 20 US centers transplanted between 2002 and 2013 were analyzed to determine whether NAFLD impacts recurrencefree post-LT survival. More

SURGERY

Annals of Surgery
Renoportal Anastomosis During Liver Transplantation in Patients With Portal Vein Thrombosis First Long-term Results From a Multicenter Study
Objective: To evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes of RPA in a large multicentric series. Summary Background: The current knowledge on RPA for portal reconstruction during LT in patients with diffuse PVT and a large splenorenal shunt is poor and limited to case reports and small case series. More

Journal of Hepatology
A multicenter randomized controlled trial of hypothermic oxygenated perfusion (HOPE) for human liver grafts before transplantation Background & aims: Machine perfusion is a novel method intended to optimize livers before transplantation. Its effect, however, on morbidity within a one-year period after transplantation has remained unclear. Methods: In this multicenter controlled trial, we randomly assigned livers donated after brain death (DBD) for liver transplantation (LT). More

Liver Transplantation
Efficacy and safety of adhesion barrier in living-donor liver transplantation with right liver graft to prevent delayed gastric emptying
Background: Delayed gastric emptying is a common complication of liver transplantation. This study aimed to clarify the efficacy and safety of the application of an adhesion barrier for preventing delayed gastric emptying in living-donor liver transplantation. More

ANESTHESIOLOGY AND CRITICAL CARE

BMC Anesthesiology
The perioperative period of liver transplantation from unconventional extended criteria donors: data from two high‑volume centres
Background: As literature largely focuses on long-term outcomes, this study aimed at elucidating the perioperative outcomes of liver transplant patients receiving a graft from two groups of unconventional expanded criteria donors: brain dead aged > 80 years and cardiac dead. More

The American Journal of Cardiology
Assessment of Vascular and Valvular Calcification Improves Screening for Coronary Artery Disease Before Liver Transplantation
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is common in patients with cirrhosis who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) evaluation, and stress echocardiogram (echo) has a low sensitivity in these patients. This study aimed to assess the impact of vascular and valvular calcification on the ability to identify CAD before OLT. More

BMC Anesthesiology
Intraoperative measurement of the respiratory exchange ratio predicts postoperative complications after liver transplantation
Background: During surgery, any mismatch between oxygen delivery (DO2) and consumption (VO2) can promote the development of postoperative complications. The respiratory exchange ratio (RER), defined as the ratio of carbon dioxide (CO2) production (VCO2) to VO2, may be a useful non-invasive tool for detecting inadequate DO2. The primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that RER measured during liver transplantation may predict postoperative morbidity. More