Liver Transplant News and Research

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When a patient presents with end stage liver disease or liver failure he or she may be considered for a liver transplantation. The first step in this is often a rigorous assessment and being placed on a waiting list.

Tobacco use persists after liver transplant for alcoholic liver disease

Alcohol and tobacco often go hand-in-hand. Studies have shown that approximately 90 percent of problem drinkers also smoke or chew tobacco. But tobacco use is not adequately addressed when patients undergo liver transplantation due to alcoholic liver disease, say authors of a new report.

26 May 2005

Study shows using expanded critera donors is safe

Patients who had received livers from hepatitis B virus core antibody (HBcAb) positive (indicates prior exposure to hepatitis B) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive donors had similar graft and patient survival compared to patients who received HBcAb negative or HCV negative livers, according to a study by the University of Pittsburgh's Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.

25 May 2005

Virus from rodents kills three transplant recipients

Three transplant patients have died as a result of receiving an organ from a donor who had unknowingly been infected with a common rodent virus. A fourth patient who received a kidney from the organ donor is recovering.

24 May 2005

Survival rates higher for children receiving living donor liver transplant

Children who undergo liver transplantation have better survival rates with living donor liver transplant graft than with deceased donor organ transplant, although factors other than the type of graft also are important, according to a study in the May issue of Archives of Surgery.

16 May 2005

Monitoring program has successfully identified a large number of previously unknown, serious and often-fatal drug reactions

A monitoring program developed by a Northwestern University researcher has successfully identified a large number of previously unknown, serious and often-fatal drug reactions associated with 15 commonly used drugs, including Plavix®, thalidomide and drug-coated cardiac stents.

3 May 2005

Patient with rare liver condition second ever to survive liver transplant after pregnancy

For Billi Tierney, 30, National Donate Life Month in April has a profound meaning. The first-time mother of Sycamore, Ill., was awaiting anxiously the arrival of her first baby. But she never thought that complications from her pregnancy were going to lead to a week in coma and the urgent need for a liver transplant. Tierney suffered from acute liver fatty of pregnancy, a rare, but serious condition of pregnancy in which there is an excessive accumulation of fat in the liver or liver cells.

23 Apr 2005

High levels of immunosuppressant may lead to tumor recurrence

A new study on the incidence of liver cancer after transplant found that high levels of the immunosuppressant cyclosporine favored tumor recurrence and identified blood levels of the drug that should not be exceeded. Lower levels of cyclosporine levels did not affect rejection rates.

22 Apr 2005

Why different tissues in the human body vary in their susceptibility to "amyloid" diseases

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute are reporting the results of a recent study that addresses why different tissues in the human body vary in their susceptibility to "amyloid" diseases, which include Alzheimer's disease and a cluster of ailments called the familial amyloidoses.

7 Apr 2005

New trial for treatment of liver disease

The Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) Clinical Research Network is launching its first two clinical trials for the study of NASH, a liver disease that resembles alcoholic liver disease but occurs in patients who drink little or no alcohol.

3 Apr 2005

New drug to treat chronic hepatitis B

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval for a new drug to treat the potentially life-threatening disease Chronic hepatitis B.

30 Mar 2005

Hope of new treatments for liver damage

There is currently no cure for liver cirrhosis and a patient's only hope of survival is to receive a liver transplant.

28 Mar 2005

Three risk factors have the greatest impact on patient and graft survival rates for liver transplantation

Three risk factors: donor age; the length of time an organ is cooled between procurement and transplantation; and how urgently the recipient needs the transplant; have the greatest impact on patient and graft survival rates for liver transplantation, according to an article in the March issue of Archives of Surgery.

22 Mar 2005

Donor age has no affect on long-term liver transplant survival

A new study on the effect of donor age on survival and recurrence of hepatitis C after liver transplantation found that it influenced short-term survival, but had no long-term effect.

22 Mar 2005

Alcohol relapse adversely affects liver transplant survival

A new study on how alcohol relapse affects survival rates after liver transplants found that it adversely affected survival rates only after 10 years. The decrease in survival rates may, however, be due to other alcohol-related diseases.

22 Mar 2005

New study to evaluate Pegasys and Copegus to treat hepatitis C in liver transplant patients

Roche has initiated a new study to evaluate treatment strategies to reduce post-transplant recurrence of hepatitis C infection with the most prescribed hepatitis C treatment combination in the U.S., Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) and Copegus (ribavirin, USP).

21 Mar 2005

Large hole in boy's liver repaired using innovative catheterization procedure

Through an innovative catheterization procedure, a pediatric cardiologist at Texas Children's Heart Center in Houston repaired a severe liver condition in a 14-year-old male.

7 Mar 2005

New therapeutic targets in liver diseases

Many patients with liver diseases often encounter difficulties with therapy and ultimately require liver transplant to survive. Since many acute and chronic liver diseases are driven by immune-mediated mechanisms, there is a necessity to find new therapies that can inhibit these immune-based triggers and block liver damage.

6 Mar 2005

Pfizer acquires Idun Pharmaceuticals

Pfizer today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Idun Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapies to control apoptosis, a process of cell death that occurs in a broad range of diseases.

24 Feb 2005

Green tea protects livers

A new study investigating the effects of the major flavonoid component of green tea on hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) found that it significantly protected livers that suffered ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in mice. I/R injury, which is caused by decreased blood flow, can lead to complications after liver transplantation.

20 Feb 2005

Biochemical marker aids prognosis in liver transplant patients

A new study on whether the model used to identify patients most in need of a liver transplant can be improved upon found that measuring serum sodium in potential transplant patients helps to better predict those with a poor prognosis.

20 Feb 2005