Federico G. Villamil – 1 July 1994 – Background. The role of liver transplantation in patients positive for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is controversial because of the high rate of recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. It has not been determined whether this risk is greater for certain patients and whether the administration of anti‐hepatitis B surface antigen (anti‐HBe) immune globulin is beneficial.

Roger Williams, Julia Wendon – 1 July 1994 – The decision to undertake transplantation in a patient with fulminant liver failure requires consideration of many factors so that the physician may arrive at the most appropriate course of action. There are several definitions of fulminant liver failure used in current practice, all excluding patients with chronic liver disease. In the one most recently proposed, the terms hyperacute, acute and subacute liver failure are used to categorize groups of patients with different clinical appearances and progress.

Ruud A. F. Krom – 1 July 1994 – Medical selection criteria should be the same for all patients with end‐stage liver disease and should aim for an acceptable outcome of the liver transplant procedure in matter of survival and quality of life, taking the scarce resources into account. The psychiatric selection criteria should aim at avoidance of recidivism of alcohol use in alcoholic patients. At least 6 mo of sobriety should be required. The patient must have a stable and supportive environment and should participate in an alcohol counseling program.

Gianluigi Giannelli, Paola Savoia, Oronzo Schiraldi, Mario Lospalluti, Michele De Luca, Pier Carlo Marchisio, Vito Quaranta – 1 July 1994 – Psoriatic lesions are relatively frequent in patients with chronic liver disease. Furthermore, therapy with interferons tends to exacerbate the symptoms. The pathogenesis of psoriatic lesions is unclear. An important question is whether such lesions may be linked to the underlying chronic liver disease in these patients, or whether they are incidental manifestations of psoriasis vulgaris.

Shuichiro Okamoto, Kazuhisa Fukushima, Hidetaka Higashijima, Ichiro Makino, Masanori Kishinaka, Hitoshi Oda, Hiroyuki Yamashita, Hitoshi Ichimiya, Kazuo Chijiiwa, Syoji Kuroki – 1 July 1994 – To examine the hypothesis that serum levels of 7α‐hydroxycholesterol reflect bile acid synthesis in the liver, we analyzed serum 7α‐hydroxycholesterol and bile acid output in 13 patients with obstructive jaundice after relief of biliary obstruction.

Gianluca Svegliati‐Baroni, Enrique Baraona, Alan S. Rosman, Charles S. Lieber – 1 July 1994 – Alcoholic and, to a lesser extent, nonalcoholic patients with liver disease have serum antibodies to acetaldehyde‐protein adducts produced in vitro. These antibodies presumably reflect the presence of adducts in the liver, but the protein that triggers this immune response has not been identified.

Emmet B. Keeffe – 1 July 1994

Jens Bukh, Roger H. Miller – 1 July 1994 – Hepatitis C virus (HCV) samples in 155 sera, from patients with chronic non‐A, non‐B liver disease and blood donors, were grouped into four genotypes (I, II, III, and IV) by amplification of core‐gene sequences by polymerase chain reaction with type‐specific primers. HCV genotypes were compared with various HCV‐associated antibodies detectable by the first‐generation ELISA (ELISA‐1) with C100‐3 protein and a second‐generation immunoblot assay with four recombinant HCV proteins.

Robert W. Osorio, Nancy L. Ascher, Mark Avery, Peter Bacchetti, John P. Roberts, John R. Lake – 1 July 1994 – With appropriate selection criteria, patients with end‐stage alcoholic liver disease who undergo orthotopic liver transplantation have similar graft and patient survivals as patients undergoing transplantation for other causes. However, because of the possibility of recidivism after orthotopic liver transplantation there is still reluctance to transplant alcoholic patients.

Nathalie Busso, Edwige Nicodeme, Christophe Chesne, André Guillouzo, Dominique Belin, François Hyafil – 1 July 1994 – We examined the effects of inflammatory cytokines (interleukin‐1β, tumor necrosis factor‐α and transforming growth factor‐β) on the plasminogen activator system (urokinase, tissue‐type plasminogen activator, type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor) in primary cultures of human hepatocytes.