Liver Transplantation News and Research

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Liver transplant recipients face increased risks of developing cancer

A new Canadian study comparing cancer rates of liver transplant patients to those of the general population has found that transplant recipients face increased risks of developing cancer, especially non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and colorectal cancer.

4 Nov 2008

Non-invasively measuring liver stiffness with transient elastography accurately identifies advanced liver disease without biopsy

Non-invasively measuring liver stiffness with transient elastography accurately diagnoses patients with late-stage liver disease, reports a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

1 Sep 2008

EpiCept and GNI partner to develop anti-viral hepatitis drug in Asia

GNI Ltd and EpiCept Corporation have announced that they have reached agreement to develop a new therapeutic drug, EP1013, in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, for late-stage viral infection-induced hepatitis. EpiCept will retain the rights in the rest of the world. GNI’s wholly owned subsidiary, Shanghai Genomics, will start preparation for pre-IND and clinical development in China immediately.

17 Jul 2008

Enzyme may explain how hepatitis C infection causes fatty liver

A key enzyme may explain how hepatitis C infection causes fatty liver - a buildup of excess fat in the liver, which can lead to life-threatening diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, report University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and School of Medicine researchers.

10 Jul 2008

Geron Corporation awarded UK grant funding for human embryonic stem cell research

Geron Corporation announced today two grant awards to the University of Edinburgh from the UK Stem Cell Foundation, with funding from the Medical Research Council and Scottish Enterprise.

6 May 2008

Study shows lifetime effects of pediatric liver transplants

Parents of pediatric liver transplant recipients report lower health-related quality of life for their children two years after the surgery, compared to reports from the parents of healthy children.

28 Mar 2008

Big increase in hepatitis C-related deaths in the United States

Hepatitis C-related deaths in the United States increased by 123 percent from 1995 through 2004, the most recent year for which data are available. Mortality rates peaked in 2002, then declined slightly overall, while continuing to rise among people 55 to 64 years old.

25 Mar 2008

New technique improves outcome for living donor liver transplants

The University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) is one of only a few centers in Canada that perform living donor liver transplantation, a surgical procedure developed in the late 1980s that expands the organ donor pool. About 80 liver transplants are done a year in Alberta, 10 of those being living-donor.

19 Mar 2008

A new finding in liver transplantation and antifibrinolytics?

Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is associated with severe bleeding and considerable transfusion requirements.

14 Mar 2008

Combination therapy of Prostacyclin, Sildenafil and Bosentan may treat portopulmonary hypertension

Combination therapy of Prostacyclin, Sildenafil, and Bosentan helped a young male patient with severe portopulmonary hypertension improve enough to receive a liver transplant.

6 Mar 2008

Review of transplant issues in patients with biliary atresia

The most common indication worldwide for pediatric transplantation, biliary atresia is also the most common cause of chronic liver disease in newborns.

9 Jan 2008

Treatment with N-acetylcysteine is associated with better outcomes for children with liver failure

A new retrospective study on the effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on children with acute liver failure not caused by acetaminophen poisoning has found that the treatment was associated with a shorter hospital stay, higher incidence of liver recovery, and better survival after transplantation.

4 Jan 2008

Corgenix Medical enters development agreement wth NIH

Corgenix Medical Corporation has announced it has entered into a corporative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

18 Dec 2007

New organ allocation criteria associated with decreased deaths on liver transplant waiting list

Changing the method by which donated livers are allocated to potential transplant patients appears to have decreased the number of deaths among individuals on the waiting list as well as shortened the time to transplantation, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Nov 2007

New comorbidity index helps predict post-transplant survival

Patients awaiting liver transplantation who also suffer from other medical problems may face poorer survival after transplantation.

6 Nov 2007

Minority patients do not necessarily have worse outcomes after liver transplantation

When treated at the same medical centers as Caucasians, they fare just as well. These are the results of a new study in the November issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience.

2 Nov 2007