Liver Transplantation News and Research

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New clinical algorithm to treat complex pediatric patients with ARPKD

A collaborative team of physician-scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute has developed a new evidence-based, clinical algorithm to help physicians treat complex patients with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease.

29 Apr 2013

Study reports liver donors face mortality risk with LDLT

A study published in Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society, reports that donor mortality is about 1 in 500 donors with living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

26 Apr 2013

Living liver donors at risk from life-threatening “near-miss” events?

25 Apr 2013

Researchers uncover potential new way to fight obesity-related illness

A potential new way to fight obesity-related illness has been uncovered, thanks to serendipitous research led by investigators at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

24 Apr 2013

MKK4 gene could be a promising therapeutic target for liver disease, study reveals

Chronic liver failure is a major health problem that causes about one million deaths around the world each year. A study published April 11th by Cell Press in the journal Cell reveals a new type of screen for identifying genes that promote liver repair in mouse models of both acute and chronic liver disease.

12 Apr 2013

Gilead Sciences submits sofosbuvir NDA to FDA for treatment of chronic HCV infection

Gilead Sciences today announced that the company has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of sofosbuvir, a once-daily oral nucleotide analogue for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

9 Apr 2013

Liver transplants worth risk for people who have genetic liver conditions, study finds

Patients faced with the diagnosis of a life-threatening liver disease have to consider the seriousness of having a liver transplant, which can be a definitive cure for many acquired and genetic liver diseases.

6 Apr 2013

Understanding ethics involved in selecting transplant candidates

Results from an anonymous survey of U.S. transplant providers report that incarceration, marijuana use, and psychiatric diagnoses, particularly suicide attempts, may lower patients' eligibility for liver transplantation.

5 Apr 2013

Patients’ eligibility for liver transplantation may be lowered by incarceration, marijuana use, and psychiatric diagnoses

4 Apr 2013

Blocked bile ducts can be effectively treated with metal stents

A multi-center analysis, led by Weill Cornell Medical College and published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, shows the use of temporary "fully covered self-expanding metal stents" (FCSEMS) can effectively fix a painful and potentially life-threatening benign biliary stricture -- a severely blocked or narrowed bile duct.

21 Mar 2013

N-acetylcysteine improves graft survival following liver transplantation

Researchers from Italy have found that the antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), when injected prior to harvesting of the liver, significantly improves graft survival following transplantation.

26 Feb 2013

Antioxidant boosts liver transplant outcomes

Infusion of N-acetylcysteine in liver donors can significantly improve the outcome of transplantation, research shows.

25 Feb 2013

Donated liver survival rate improved by antioxidant

Researchers from Italy have found that the antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), when injected prior to harvesting of the liver, significantly improves graft survival following transplantation. Results published in the February issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), suggest that the NAC effect on early graft function and survival is higher when suboptimal organs are used.

21 Feb 2013

Early PBC prognosis advocated

Biochemical response to ursodeoxycholic acid at 6 months is a better predictor for primary biliary cirrhosis prognosis than the current standard of 1 year, study results suggest.

18 Feb 2013

FDA approves Novartis’ Zortress to prevent organ rejection after liver transplantation in adults

Novartis announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Zortress (everolimus) for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in adult patients receiving a liver transplant.

16 Feb 2013

Donor liver quality: an interview with Dr Eric Orman

Liver transplantation is a surgical procedure in which a liver (or part of a liver) is removed from a donor and placed into a recipient. Although some transplants use a portion of the liver of living donors, the vast majority of donors are deceased.

6 Feb 2013

Donor liver wastage on the increase

US researchers have found that the expansion of liver transplantation criteria to include post-cardiac death donors is associated with an increase in the proportion of unused donor livers.

14 Jan 2013

Lower liver quality from donation after cardiac death linked to drop in transplants

A new study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Health Resources and Services Administration, and published in the January 2013 issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), found that the non-use of donor livers climbed through 2010 due to a worsening of donor liver quality, primarily from donation following cardiac death. Diabetes, donor age, and body mass index (BMI) were also linked to a decrease in use of organs.

11 Jan 2013

PharmaIN receives FDA orphan-drug designation for terlipressin to treat ascites

PharmaIN Corporation and LAT Pharma LLC today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted their request for orphan-drug designation for terlipressin for the treatment of ascites due to all etiologies except for cancer.

7 Jan 2013

SVR associated with prolonged overall survival in patients with chronic HCV infection

Among patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection and advanced hepatic fibrosis (development of excess fibrous connective tissue), sustained virological response (SVR) to interferon-based treatment was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with patients without SVR, according to a study in the December 26 issue of JAMA.

26 Dec 2012