The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has upended healthcare systems worldwide and led to an inevitable decrease in liver transplantation(LT)activity.During the first pandemic wave,administrators and clinicia...The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has upended healthcare systems worldwide and led to an inevitable decrease in liver transplantation(LT)activity.During the first pandemic wave,administrators and clinicians were obliged to make the difficult decision of whether to suspend or continue a lifesaving procedure based on the scarce available evidence regarding the risk of transmission and mortality in immunosuppressed patients.Those centers where the activity continued or was heavily restricted were obliged to screen donors and recipients,design COVID-safe clinical pathways,and promote telehealth to prevent nosocomial transmission.Despite the ever-growing literature on COVID-19,the amount of high-quality literature on LT remains limited.This review will provide an updated view of the impact of the pandemic on LT programs worldwide.Donor and recipient screening,strategies for waitlist prioritization,and posttransplant risk of infection and mortality are discussed.Moreover,a particular focus is given to the possibility of donor-to-recipient transmission and immunosuppression management in COVID-positive recipients.展开更多
AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic value of different indirect methods like biochemical parameters, ultrasound (US) analysis, CT-scan and MRI/MRCP in comparison with endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC), for diagn...AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic value of different indirect methods like biochemical parameters, ultrasound (US) analysis, CT-scan and MRI/MRCP in comparison with endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC), for diagnosis of biliary complications after liver transplantation. METHODS: In 75 patients after liver transplantation, who received ERC due to suspected biliary complications, the result of the cholangiography was compared to the results of indirect imaging methods performed prior to ERC. The cholangiography showed no biliary stenosis (NoST) in 25 patients, AST in 27 and ITBL in 23 patients. RESULTS: Biliary congestion as a result of AST was detected with a sensitivity of 68.4% in US analysis (specificity 91%), of 71% in MRI (specificity 25%) and of 40% in CT (specificity 57.1%). In ITBL, biliary congestion was detected with a sensitivity of 58.8% in the US, 88.9%in MRI and of 83.3% in CT. However, as anastomotic or ischemic stenoses were the underlying cause of biliary congestion, the sensitivity of detection was very low. InMRI detected the dominant stenosis at a correct localization in 22% and CT in 10%, while US failed completely. The biochemical parameters, showed no significant difference in bilirubin (median 5.7; 4,1; 2.5 mg/dL), alkaline phosphatase (median 360; 339; 527 U/L) or gamma glutamyl transferase (median 277; 220; 239 U/L) levels between NoST, AST and ITBL.CONCLUSION: Our data confirm that indirect imaging methods to date cannot replace direct cholangiography for diagnosis of post transplant biliary stenoses. However MRI may have the potential to complement or precede imaging by cholangiography. Optimized MRCP-processing might further improve the diagnostic impact of this method.展开更多
Patients with end-stage renal disease in Greece are facing long waiting times to receive a kidney transplant from a deceased donor.Living kidney donation offers a valuable alternative that provides optimal outcomes an...Patients with end-stage renal disease in Greece are facing long waiting times to receive a kidney transplant from a deceased donor.Living kidney donation offers a valuable alternative that provides optimal outcomes and significantly expands the donor pool but still remains relatively underutilised.Developments around the world in the field of kidney transplantation mandate a change in current practice to include additional options for living donation through paired exchange,antibody-incompatible transplantation and other strategies,following careful consideration of the cultural and ethical factors involved in these complex clinical decisions.An increase in living donation rates may be achieved in several ways,including targeted campaigning to overcome potential barriers.Educating clinicians on transplantation will prove as equally important as informing patients and prospective donors but requires training and resources.Adoption of established practices and implementation of new strategies must be tailored to the needs of the Greek donor and recipient population.Local beliefs about donation,perception of associated risk and other social characteristics must be considered in the design of future strategies.Facilitating living donation in a safe environment with appropriate donor and recipient education will form the solid foundation of a new era of kidney transplantation in Greece.展开更多
Improvements in the medical and pharmacological management of liver transplantation(LT)recipients have led to a better long-term outcome and extension of the indications for this procedure.Liver tumors are relevant to...Improvements in the medical and pharmacological management of liver transplantation(LT)recipients have led to a better long-term outcome and extension of the indications for this procedure.Liver tumors are relevant to LT;however,the use of LT to treat malignancies remains a debated issue because the high risk of recurrence.In this review we considered LT for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),cholangiocarcinoma(CCA),liver metastases(LM)and other rare tumors.We reviewed the literature,focusing on the past 10 years.The highly selected Milan criteria of LT for HCC(single nodule<5 cm or up to 3 nodules<3cm)have been recently extended by a group from the University of S.Francisco(1 lesion<6.5 cm or up to3 lesions<4.5 cm)with satisfying results in terms of recurrence-free survival and the"up-to-seven criteria".Moreover,using these criteria,other transplant groups have recently developed downstaging protocols,including surgical or loco-regional treatments of HCC,which have increased the post-operative survival of recipients.CCA may be treated by LT in patients who cannot undergo liver resection because of underlying liver disease or for anatomical technical challenges.A well-defined protocol of chemoirradiation and staging laparotomy before LT has been developed by the Mayo Clinic,which has resulted in long term diseasefree survival comparable to other indications.LT for LM has also been investigated by multicenter studies.It offers a real benefit for metastases from neuroendocrine tumors that are well differentiated and when a major extrahepatic resection is not required.If LT is an option in these selected cases,liver metastases from colorectal cancer is still a borderline indication because data concerning the disease-free survival are still lacking.Hepatoblastoma and hemangioendothelioma represent rare primary tumors for which LT is often the only possible and effective cure because of the frequent multifocal,intrahepatic nature of the disease.LT is a very promising procedure for both primary and secondary liver malignancies;however,it needs an accurate evaluation of the costs and benefits for each indication to balance the chances of cure with actual organ availability.展开更多
Anatomic variations of the right biliary system are one of the most common risk factors for sectoral bile duct injury(BDI)during cholecystectomy.Isolated right posterior BDI may in particular be a challenge for both d...Anatomic variations of the right biliary system are one of the most common risk factors for sectoral bile duct injury(BDI)during cholecystectomy.Isolated right posterior BDI may in particular be a challenge for both diagnosis and management.Herein we describe two cases of isolated right posterior sectoral BDI that took place during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.Despite effective external biliary drainage from the liver hilum in both cases,there was a persistent biliary leak observed which was not visible on endoscopic retrogradecholangiogram.Careful evaluation of images from both endoscopic and magnetic resonance cholangiograms revealed the diagnosis of an isolated right posterior sectoral BDI.These were treated with a delayed bisegmental(segments 6 and 7)liver resection and a Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy respectively with good outcomes at 24 and 4 mo of follow-up.This paper discusses strategies for prevention of such injuries along with the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges it offers.展开更多
AIM: To evaluate the predictors of 10-year survival of patients with hepatitis C recurrence. METHODS: Data from 358 patients transplanted between 1989 and 2010 in two Italian transplant centers and with evidence of he...AIM: To evaluate the predictors of 10-year survival of patients with hepatitis C recurrence. METHODS: Data from 358 patients transplanted between 1989 and 2010 in two Italian transplant centers and with evidence of hepatitis C recurrence were analyzed. A χ2, Fisher's exact test and Kruskal Wallis' test were used for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Survival analysis was performed at 10 years after transplant using the Kaplan-Meier method, and a log-rank test was used to compare groups. A P level less than 0.05 was considered significant for all tests. Multivariate analysis of the predictive role of different variables on 10-year survival was performed by a stepwise Cox logistic regression.RESULTS: The ten-year survival of the entire population was 61.2%. Five groups of patients were identified according to the virological response or lack of a response to antiviral treatment and, among those who were not treated, according to the clinical status(mild hepatitis C recurrence, "too sick to be treated" and patients with comorbidities contraindicating the treatment). While the 10-year survival of treated and untreated patients was not different(59.1% vs 64.7%, P = 0.192), patients with a sustained virological response had a higher 10-year survival rate than both the "non-responders"(84.7% vs 39.8%, P < 0.0001) and too sick to be treated(84.7% vs 0%, P < 0.0001). Sustained virological responders had a survival rate comparable to patients untreated with mild recurrence(84.7% vs 89.3%). A sustained virological response and young donor age were independent predictors of 10-year survival. CONCLUSION: Sustained virological response significantly increased long-term survival. Awaiting the interferon-free regimen global availability, antiviral treatment might be questionable in selected subjects with mild hepatitis C recurrence.展开更多
Dear Editor,In recent years,criteria based on the combinationof morphology and biology have been proposed forimproving the selection of hepatocellular cancer(HCC)patients waiting for liver transplantation(LT)[1,2].Sin...Dear Editor,In recent years,criteria based on the combinationof morphology and biology have been proposed forimproving the selection of hepatocellular cancer(HCC)patients waiting for liver transplantation(LT)[1,2].Since all the proposed models showed suboptimalresults in predicting the risk of postLT recurrence,aprediction model constructed using artificial intelligence(Al)could be an attractive way to surpass this limit[3,4].Therefore,the Time_Radiological-response_Alpha-fetoproteIN_Artificial-Intelligence(TRAIN-AI)modelwas developed,combining morphology and biology tumorvariables.展开更多
Although a steady decline in the incidence and mortality rates of gastric carcinoma has been observed in the last century worldwide,the absolute number of new cases/year is increasing because of the aging of the popul...Although a steady decline in the incidence and mortality rates of gastric carcinoma has been observed in the last century worldwide,the absolute number of new cases/year is increasing because of the aging of the population. So far,surgical resection with curative intent has been the only treatment providing hope for cure;therefore,gastric cancer surgery has become a specialized field in digestive surgery. Gastrectomy with lymph node(LN) dissection for cancer patients remains a challenging procedure which requires skilled,well-trained surgeons who are very familiar with the fast-evolving oncological principles of gastric cancer surgery. As a matter of fact,the extent of gastric resection and LN dissection depends on the size of the disease and gastric cancer surgery has become a patient and "diseasetailored" surgery,ranging from endoscopic resection to laparoscopic assisted gastrectomy and conventional extended multivisceral resections. LN metastases are the most important prognostic factor in patients that undergo curative resection. LN dissection remains the most challenging part of the operation due to the location of LN stations around major retroperitoneal vessels and adjacent organs,which are not routinely included in the resected specimen and need to be preserved in order to avoid dangerous intra-and postoperative complications.Hence,the surgeon is the most important non-TMN prognostic factor in gastric cancer.Subtotal gastrectomy is the treatment of choice for middle and distal-third gastric cancer as it provides similar survival rates and better functional outcome compared to total gastrectomy,especially in early-stage disease with favorable prognosis.Nonetheless,the resection range for middle-third gastric cancer cases and the extent of LN dissection at early stages remains controversial.Due to the necessity of a more extended procedure at advanced stages and the trend for more conservative treatments in early gastric cancer,the indication for conventional subtotal gastrectomy depends on multiple variables.This review aims to clarify and define the actual landmarks of this procedure and the role it plays compared to the whole range of new and old treatment methods.展开更多
Dear Editor:In the last two decades,the indications of liver transplantation(LT)for primary and secondary hepatobiliary malignancies have been increasingly expanded.Although this attractive option still represents the...Dear Editor:In the last two decades,the indications of liver transplantation(LT)for primary and secondary hepatobiliary malignancies have been increasingly expanded.Although this attractive option still represents the“last court of appeal”in cancer patients,the role of LT is well established in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),where transplantation has also demonstrated a benefit for selected patients affected by peri-hilar cholangiocarcinoma,intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma,and neuroendocrine tumors[1].Recently,the interest in LT in liver-limited stage IV colorectal cancer(CRC)has increased due to recent advances in transplantation techniques that have led to a re-evaluation of this approach.展开更多
文摘The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has upended healthcare systems worldwide and led to an inevitable decrease in liver transplantation(LT)activity.During the first pandemic wave,administrators and clinicians were obliged to make the difficult decision of whether to suspend or continue a lifesaving procedure based on the scarce available evidence regarding the risk of transmission and mortality in immunosuppressed patients.Those centers where the activity continued or was heavily restricted were obliged to screen donors and recipients,design COVID-safe clinical pathways,and promote telehealth to prevent nosocomial transmission.Despite the ever-growing literature on COVID-19,the amount of high-quality literature on LT remains limited.This review will provide an updated view of the impact of the pandemic on LT programs worldwide.Donor and recipient screening,strategies for waitlist prioritization,and posttransplant risk of infection and mortality are discussed.Moreover,a particular focus is given to the possibility of donor-to-recipient transmission and immunosuppression management in COVID-positive recipients.
文摘AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic value of different indirect methods like biochemical parameters, ultrasound (US) analysis, CT-scan and MRI/MRCP in comparison with endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC), for diagnosis of biliary complications after liver transplantation. METHODS: In 75 patients after liver transplantation, who received ERC due to suspected biliary complications, the result of the cholangiography was compared to the results of indirect imaging methods performed prior to ERC. The cholangiography showed no biliary stenosis (NoST) in 25 patients, AST in 27 and ITBL in 23 patients. RESULTS: Biliary congestion as a result of AST was detected with a sensitivity of 68.4% in US analysis (specificity 91%), of 71% in MRI (specificity 25%) and of 40% in CT (specificity 57.1%). In ITBL, biliary congestion was detected with a sensitivity of 58.8% in the US, 88.9%in MRI and of 83.3% in CT. However, as anastomotic or ischemic stenoses were the underlying cause of biliary congestion, the sensitivity of detection was very low. InMRI detected the dominant stenosis at a correct localization in 22% and CT in 10%, while US failed completely. The biochemical parameters, showed no significant difference in bilirubin (median 5.7; 4,1; 2.5 mg/dL), alkaline phosphatase (median 360; 339; 527 U/L) or gamma glutamyl transferase (median 277; 220; 239 U/L) levels between NoST, AST and ITBL.CONCLUSION: Our data confirm that indirect imaging methods to date cannot replace direct cholangiography for diagnosis of post transplant biliary stenoses. However MRI may have the potential to complement or precede imaging by cholangiography. Optimized MRCP-processing might further improve the diagnostic impact of this method.
文摘Patients with end-stage renal disease in Greece are facing long waiting times to receive a kidney transplant from a deceased donor.Living kidney donation offers a valuable alternative that provides optimal outcomes and significantly expands the donor pool but still remains relatively underutilised.Developments around the world in the field of kidney transplantation mandate a change in current practice to include additional options for living donation through paired exchange,antibody-incompatible transplantation and other strategies,following careful consideration of the cultural and ethical factors involved in these complex clinical decisions.An increase in living donation rates may be achieved in several ways,including targeted campaigning to overcome potential barriers.Educating clinicians on transplantation will prove as equally important as informing patients and prospective donors but requires training and resources.Adoption of established practices and implementation of new strategies must be tailored to the needs of the Greek donor and recipient population.Local beliefs about donation,perception of associated risk and other social characteristics must be considered in the design of future strategies.Facilitating living donation in a safe environment with appropriate donor and recipient education will form the solid foundation of a new era of kidney transplantation in Greece.
文摘Improvements in the medical and pharmacological management of liver transplantation(LT)recipients have led to a better long-term outcome and extension of the indications for this procedure.Liver tumors are relevant to LT;however,the use of LT to treat malignancies remains a debated issue because the high risk of recurrence.In this review we considered LT for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),cholangiocarcinoma(CCA),liver metastases(LM)and other rare tumors.We reviewed the literature,focusing on the past 10 years.The highly selected Milan criteria of LT for HCC(single nodule<5 cm or up to 3 nodules<3cm)have been recently extended by a group from the University of S.Francisco(1 lesion<6.5 cm or up to3 lesions<4.5 cm)with satisfying results in terms of recurrence-free survival and the"up-to-seven criteria".Moreover,using these criteria,other transplant groups have recently developed downstaging protocols,including surgical or loco-regional treatments of HCC,which have increased the post-operative survival of recipients.CCA may be treated by LT in patients who cannot undergo liver resection because of underlying liver disease or for anatomical technical challenges.A well-defined protocol of chemoirradiation and staging laparotomy before LT has been developed by the Mayo Clinic,which has resulted in long term diseasefree survival comparable to other indications.LT for LM has also been investigated by multicenter studies.It offers a real benefit for metastases from neuroendocrine tumors that are well differentiated and when a major extrahepatic resection is not required.If LT is an option in these selected cases,liver metastases from colorectal cancer is still a borderline indication because data concerning the disease-free survival are still lacking.Hepatoblastoma and hemangioendothelioma represent rare primary tumors for which LT is often the only possible and effective cure because of the frequent multifocal,intrahepatic nature of the disease.LT is a very promising procedure for both primary and secondary liver malignancies;however,it needs an accurate evaluation of the costs and benefits for each indication to balance the chances of cure with actual organ availability.
文摘Anatomic variations of the right biliary system are one of the most common risk factors for sectoral bile duct injury(BDI)during cholecystectomy.Isolated right posterior BDI may in particular be a challenge for both diagnosis and management.Herein we describe two cases of isolated right posterior sectoral BDI that took place during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.Despite effective external biliary drainage from the liver hilum in both cases,there was a persistent biliary leak observed which was not visible on endoscopic retrogradecholangiogram.Careful evaluation of images from both endoscopic and magnetic resonance cholangiograms revealed the diagnosis of an isolated right posterior sectoral BDI.These were treated with a delayed bisegmental(segments 6 and 7)liver resection and a Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy respectively with good outcomes at 24 and 4 mo of follow-up.This paper discusses strategies for prevention of such injuries along with the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges it offers.
文摘AIM: To evaluate the predictors of 10-year survival of patients with hepatitis C recurrence. METHODS: Data from 358 patients transplanted between 1989 and 2010 in two Italian transplant centers and with evidence of hepatitis C recurrence were analyzed. A χ2, Fisher's exact test and Kruskal Wallis' test were used for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Survival analysis was performed at 10 years after transplant using the Kaplan-Meier method, and a log-rank test was used to compare groups. A P level less than 0.05 was considered significant for all tests. Multivariate analysis of the predictive role of different variables on 10-year survival was performed by a stepwise Cox logistic regression.RESULTS: The ten-year survival of the entire population was 61.2%. Five groups of patients were identified according to the virological response or lack of a response to antiviral treatment and, among those who were not treated, according to the clinical status(mild hepatitis C recurrence, "too sick to be treated" and patients with comorbidities contraindicating the treatment). While the 10-year survival of treated and untreated patients was not different(59.1% vs 64.7%, P = 0.192), patients with a sustained virological response had a higher 10-year survival rate than both the "non-responders"(84.7% vs 39.8%, P < 0.0001) and too sick to be treated(84.7% vs 0%, P < 0.0001). Sustained virological responders had a survival rate comparable to patients untreated with mild recurrence(84.7% vs 89.3%). A sustained virological response and young donor age were independent predictors of 10-year survival. CONCLUSION: Sustained virological response significantly increased long-term survival. Awaiting the interferon-free regimen global availability, antiviral treatment might be questionable in selected subjects with mild hepatitis C recurrence.
文摘Dear Editor,In recent years,criteria based on the combinationof morphology and biology have been proposed forimproving the selection of hepatocellular cancer(HCC)patients waiting for liver transplantation(LT)[1,2].Since all the proposed models showed suboptimalresults in predicting the risk of postLT recurrence,aprediction model constructed using artificial intelligence(Al)could be an attractive way to surpass this limit[3,4].Therefore,the Time_Radiological-response_Alpha-fetoproteIN_Artificial-Intelligence(TRAIN-AI)modelwas developed,combining morphology and biology tumorvariables.
文摘Although a steady decline in the incidence and mortality rates of gastric carcinoma has been observed in the last century worldwide,the absolute number of new cases/year is increasing because of the aging of the population. So far,surgical resection with curative intent has been the only treatment providing hope for cure;therefore,gastric cancer surgery has become a specialized field in digestive surgery. Gastrectomy with lymph node(LN) dissection for cancer patients remains a challenging procedure which requires skilled,well-trained surgeons who are very familiar with the fast-evolving oncological principles of gastric cancer surgery. As a matter of fact,the extent of gastric resection and LN dissection depends on the size of the disease and gastric cancer surgery has become a patient and "diseasetailored" surgery,ranging from endoscopic resection to laparoscopic assisted gastrectomy and conventional extended multivisceral resections. LN metastases are the most important prognostic factor in patients that undergo curative resection. LN dissection remains the most challenging part of the operation due to the location of LN stations around major retroperitoneal vessels and adjacent organs,which are not routinely included in the resected specimen and need to be preserved in order to avoid dangerous intra-and postoperative complications.Hence,the surgeon is the most important non-TMN prognostic factor in gastric cancer.Subtotal gastrectomy is the treatment of choice for middle and distal-third gastric cancer as it provides similar survival rates and better functional outcome compared to total gastrectomy,especially in early-stage disease with favorable prognosis.Nonetheless,the resection range for middle-third gastric cancer cases and the extent of LN dissection at early stages remains controversial.Due to the necessity of a more extended procedure at advanced stages and the trend for more conservative treatments in early gastric cancer,the indication for conventional subtotal gastrectomy depends on multiple variables.This review aims to clarify and define the actual landmarks of this procedure and the role it plays compared to the whole range of new and old treatment methods.
文摘Dear Editor:In the last two decades,the indications of liver transplantation(LT)for primary and secondary hepatobiliary malignancies have been increasingly expanded.Although this attractive option still represents the“last court of appeal”in cancer patients,the role of LT is well established in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),where transplantation has also demonstrated a benefit for selected patients affected by peri-hilar cholangiocarcinoma,intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma,and neuroendocrine tumors[1].Recently,the interest in LT in liver-limited stage IV colorectal cancer(CRC)has increased due to recent advances in transplantation techniques that have led to a re-evaluation of this approach.
