K Maezono, K Mawatari, K Kajiwara, A Shinkai, T Maki – 1 November 1996 – The effect of high‐dose alanine on survival and liver function in rats with acute liver failure caused by a lethal dose of D‐galactosamine (D‐gal) was studied. Greater than 90% of control animals died within 5 days after D‐gal injection, but alanine significantly decreased mortality, even when treatment was started at 12 hours after D‐gal injection. Alanyl‐glutamine had a slight effect, but glucose produced no improvement.

T Tsubono, S Todo, N Jabbour, A Mizoe, V Warty, A J Demetris, T E Starzl – 1 November 1996 – Objective: To determine its predictive capability on graft quality and resultant clinical outcome, the indocyanine green (ICG) elimination test was performed by a spectrophotometric method and a noninvasive finger‐piece method with 50 orthotopic liver transplantations. Background: Early detection of poor‐functioning hepatic grafts is one of the most important issues in liver transplantation, but no reliable methods exist.

G Laffi, A Lagi, M Cipriani, G Barletta, L Bernardi, L Fattorini, L Melani, D Riccardi, G Bandinelli, M Mannelli, G La Villa, P Gentilini – 1 November 1996 – The autonomic regulation of cardiovascular function was evaluated in 15 cirrhotic patients with ascites and in 13 healthy subjects by the autoregressive power spectral analysis (PSA) of the intervals between adjacent R waves of the electrocardiogram (RR) interval and arterial pressure variability.

1 November 1996

1 November 1996

T Ohno, J Y Lau – 1 November 1996

N Hisama, Y Yamaguchi, T Ishiko, N Miyanari, O Ichiguchi, M Goto, K Mori, K Watanabe, K Kawamura, S Tsurufuji, M Ogawa – 1 November 1996 – We investigated the role of hepatic macrophages in the inflammatory response following reperfusion injury by blocking Kupffer cell phagocytosis with gadolinium chloride (GdCl3). Liver ischemia was induced in rats by occluding the portal vein for 30 minutes. A bolus of GdCl3 (7 mg/kg) was injected intravenously 1 and 2 days before surgery.

J Scoazec, J Flejou, A D'Errico, M Fiorentino, A Zamparelli, A Bringuier, G Feldmann, W F Grigioni – 1 November 1996 – We have analyzed the composition of the tumor stroma and the expression of cell‐matrix and cell‐cell adhesion molecules in 11 cases of fibrolamellar carcinoma of the liver (FLC), in comparison with 34 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma and 8 cases of focal nodular hyperplasia.

T Kaneko, A Nakao, S Nomoto, T Endo, S Itoh, H Takagi – 1 November 1996 – The accurate diagnosis of inferior vena cava infiltration is important not only for preoperative staging but also for performing surgery for hepatic tumor involving the inferior vena cava (IVC). We investigated the diagnostic value of intracaval endovascular ultrasonography (ICEUS) in the diagnosis of invasion of the IVC by a prospective study of 30 consecutive patients with hepatic tumors with possible invasion of the IVC.

M Zoli, C Merkel, D Magalotti, G Marchesini, A Gatta, E Pisi – 1 November 1996 – The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the usefulness of the Italian Liver Cirrhosis Project (ILCP) classification of esophageal varices, together with the gastric features of portal hypertension, in predicting the first upper gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhosis. The efficiency of these endoscopic parameters in predicting bleeding was also compared with the efficiency of the North Italian Endoscopic Club (NIEC) index.