Perioperative and Oncological Outcome in Patients Undergoing Curative-Intent Liver Resection for Cholangiocarcinoma in the Context of Osteopenia.

: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) of the liver is a highly aggressive cancer that arises from malignant cells in the bile ducts. Radical surgery remains the only curative option, but major liver resection carries high perioperative risks. This study investigates the predictive value of preoperative bone mineral density (BMD), measured via CT, for perioperative complications, mortality, and long-term outcomes.

Surgical Refinement in Porcine Renal Autotransplantation - Flattening the Learning Curve in an Established Training Program.

Introduction: Complex animal models, such as the porcine renal autotransplantation (pRaTx) model, provide an excellent platform for translational research. The pRaTx model is challenging, offering many possibilities to refine surgical procedures and optimize learning curves and outcomes. In this study, we described the critical initial steps toward flattening the learning curve in pRaTx.

The influence of clinical risk factors on the classification of human cancer-associated fibroblasts in PDAC and pancreatitis patients.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) constitute an important cell population in the microenvironment of pancreatic cancer. They can arise from disease-associated fibroblasts (DAFs) to support or restrain tumor growth. How many CAF subtypes exist and what signals drive their development is unclear.

Exploring the Enhanced Liver Regeneration Patterns Following ALPPS Versus Selective Portal Vein Ligation in an Experimental Model.

Background: Associating liver partition and portal vein ligation (PVL) for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) and selective PV embolization (PVE) are important clinical strategies in liver surgery. Even though it has been demonstrated that ALPPS induces a more rapid and expressed hypertrophy than PVL/PVE, this phenomenon is still not well understood.

Aim: In the present study, we aimed to characterize enhanced regeneration patterns in a rat model.

5/6 Nephrectomy Using Sharp Bipolectomy Via Midline Laparotomy in Rats.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects over 10% of the global population, amounting to more than 800 million individuals worldwide. The advances in the treatment of CKD have had a significant impact on patient outcomes. While in the past, CKD was often considered a death sentence, with many patients succumbing to the complications of end-stage renal disease, it is now increasingly being managed as a chronic condition with the availability of dialysis and kidney transplantation, as well as new pharmaceutical developments such as SGLT2 inhibitors or nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists.

Deceased donor liver utilisation and assessment: Consensus guidelines from the European Liver and Intestine Transplant Association.

Over the past two decades, the application of machine perfusion (MP) in human liver transplantation has moved from the realm of clinical exploration to routine clinical practice. Both in situ and ex situ perfusion strategies are feasible, safe, and may offer improvements in relevant post-transplant outcomes. An important utility of these strategies is the ability to transplant grafts traditionally considered too risky to transplant using conventional cold storage alone.

A snapshot of challenges and opportunities faced by the scientific workforce in liver transplantation-a survey of the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS).

Basic and translational research (B&TR) in liver transplantation (LT) underwent considerable changes and shifts over the past decade. To capture the current landscape and future potential of B&TR in LT, we conducted an online survey within the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS) community. The survey aimed to collect comprehensive data on the respondents' characteristics, qualifications, experiences, and research activities, providing the present state and future directions of B&TR in LT.

Bridging Therapies-Ex Vivo Liver Xenoperfusion and the Role of Machine Perfusion: An Update.

Advancements in xenotransplantation intersecting with modern machine perfusion technology offer promising solutions to patients with liver failure providing a valuable bridge to transplantation and extending graft viability beyond current limitations. Patients facing acute or acute chronic liver failure, post-hepatectomy liver failure, or fulminant hepatic failure often require urgent liver transplants which are severely limited by organ shortage, emphasizing the importance of effective bridging approaches. Machine perfusion is now increasingly used to test and use genetically engineered porcine livers in translational studies, addressing the limitations and costs of non-human primate models.

Controlled Reversible Visceral Arterial Ischemia, Venous Congestion and Combined Malperfusion via Midline Laparotomy in Rats.

Besides sepsis and malignancy, malperfusion is the third leading cause of tissue degradation and a major pathomechanism for various medical and surgical conditions. Despite significant developments such as bypass surgery, endovascular procedures, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and artificial blood substitutes, tissue malperfusion, especially of visceral organs, remains a pressing issue in patient care. The demand for further research on biomedical processes and possible interventions is high.

Prognostic Relevance of the Proximal Resection Margin Distance in Distal Gastrectomy for Gastric Adenocarcinoma.

Background: The risk for recurrence in patients with distal gastric cancer can be reduced by surgical radicality. However, dispute exists about the value of the proposed minimum proximal margin distance (PMD). Here, we assess the prognostic value of the safety distance between the proximal resection margin and the tumor.

Shining a spotlight on sarcopenia and myosteatosis in liver disease and liver transplantation: Potentially modifiable risk factors with major clinical impact.

Muscle-wasting and disease-related malnutrition are highly prevalent in patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD) as well as in liver transplant (LT) candidates. Alterations of body composition (BC) such as sarcopenia, myosteatosis and sarcopenic obesity and associated clinical frailty were tied to inferior clinical outcomes including hospital admissions, length of stay, complications, mortality and healthcare costs in various patient cohorts and clinical scenarios. In contrast to other inherent detrimental individual characteristics often observed in these complex patients, such as comorbidities or genetic risk, alterations of the skeletal muscle and malnutrition are considered as potentially modifiable risk factors with a major clinical impact.

Machine perfusion of the liver and in vivo animal models: A systematic review of the preclinical research landscape.

Machine perfusion (MP) is often referred to as one of the most promising advancements in liver transplantation research of the last few decades, with various techniques and modalities being evaluated in preclinical studies using animal models. However, low scientific rigor and subpar reporting standards lead to limited reproducibility and translational potential, hindering progress. This pre-registered systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42021234667) aimed to provide a thematic overview of the preclinical research landscape on MP in liver transplantation using in vivo transplantation models and to explore methodological and reporting standards, using the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) score.

Improved outcomes after hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion in liver transplantation-Long-term follow-up of a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Background: While 4 randomized controlled clinical trials confirmed the early benefits of hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion (HOPE), high-level evidence regarding long-term clinical outcomes is lacking. The aim of this follow-up study from the HOPE-ECD-DBD trial was to compare long-term outcomes in patients who underwent liver transplantation using extended criteria donor allografts from donation after brain death (ECD-DBD), randomized to either HOPE or static cold storage (SCS).

Methods: Between September 2017 and September 2020, recipients of liver transplantation from 4 European centers receiving extended criteria donor-donation after brain death allografts were randomly assigned to HOPE or SCS (1:1).

Clinical Research in Renal Transplantation: A Bibliometric Perspective on a Half-century of Innovation and Progress.

Background: Groundbreaking biomedical research has transformed renal transplantation (RT) into a widespread clinical procedure that represents the mainstay of treatment for end-stage kidney failure today. Here, we aimed to provide a comprehensive bibliometric perspective on the last half-century of innovation in clinical RT.

Methods: The Web of Science Core Collection was used for a comprehensive screening yielding 123 303 research items during a 50-y period (January 1973-October 2022).

Detrimental impact of immunosuppressive burden on clinical course in patients with Cytomegalovirus infection after liver transplantation.

Introduction: Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-infection and reactivation remain a relevant complication after liver transplantation (LT). The recipient and donor serum CMV-IgG-status has been established for risk stratification when choosing various pharmaceutical regimens for CMV-prophylaxis in the last two decades. However, factors influencing course of CMV-infection in LT remain largely unknown.

Genetic polymorphisms in interleukin-1β (rs1143634) and interleukin-8 (rs4073) are associated with survival after resection of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) is a rare, understudied primary hepatic malignancy with dismal outcomes. Aiming to identify prognostically relevant single-nucleotide polymorphisms, we analyzed 11 genetic variants with a role in tumor-promoting inflammation (VEGF, EGF, EGFR, IL-1B, IL-6, CXCL8 (IL-8), IL-10, CXCR1, HIF1A and PTGS2 (COX-2) genes) and their association with disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing curative-intent surgery for iCCA. Genomic DNA was isolated from 112 patients (64 female, 48 male) with iCCA.

Value of prognostic scoring systems in the era of multimodal therapy for recurrent colorectal liver metastases.

Background: Various predictive scoring systems have been developed to estimate outcomes of patients undergoing surgery for colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). However, data regarding their effectiveness in recurrent CRLM (recCRLM) are very limited.

Methods: Patients who underwent repeat hepatectomy for recCRLM at the University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany from 2010 to 2021 were included.

Calcification of the visceral aorta and celiac trunk is associated with renal and allograft outcomes after deceased donor liver transplantation.

Purpose: Atherosclerosis affects clinical outcomes in the setting of major surgery. Here we aimed to investigate the prognostic role of visceral aortic (VAC), extended visceral aortic (VAC+), and celiac artery calcification (CAC) in the assessment of short- and long-term outcomes following deceased donor orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in a western European cohort.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 281 consecutive recipients who underwent OLT at a German university medical center (05/2010-03/2020).

A Proof-of-Concept Preclinical Study Using a Novel Thermal Insulation Device in a Porcine Kidney Auto-Transplantation Model.

Ischemia-reperfusion injury remains a fundamental problem during organ transplantation logistics. One key technical factor is the rapid allograft rewarming during the time of vascular reconstruction in the recipient. In this pilot study, a new thermal insulation bag (TIB) for organ transplantation was used.