The May issue of Liver Transplantation, the official Journal of ILTS and the AASLD, is out now.
Free access for ILTS members!
Article selections by A Mi Mi Kyaw, Kenan Moral, Tommy, Daniel, Abdul Hakeem, and Ashwin Rammohan

SURGERY

Pediatric Transplantation
Optimizing pediatric liver transplantation: Evaluating the impact of donor age and graft type on patient survival outcome                       
Background: We examined the combined effects of donor age and graft type on pediatric liver transplantation outcomes with an aim to offer insights into the strategic utilization of these donor and graft options. More

American Journal of Transplantation
Robotic living donor hepatectomy is associated with superior outcomes for both the donor and the recipient compared to laparoscopic or open – A single center prospective registry study of 3,448 cases
Minimally invasive donor hepatectomy is an emerging surgical technique in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). We examined outcomes across open, laparoscopic, and robotic LDLT using a prospective registry. We analyzed 3,448 cases (1,724 donor-recipient pairs) from Jan 2011 to Mar 2023 (NCT06062706). Among donors, 724 (42%) were female. More

Transplantation
Changes in Pancreas Volume in Living Donor Liver Transplant Recipients
Background: Metabolic factors have a significant role in the morbidity and mortality associated with chronic liver disease. The pancreas has a central role in metabolism and metabolic risk factors but has been largely ignored in liver transplantation. Small pancreas volume has been demonstrated in pathologic conditions such as type 1 and 2 diabetes. More

HEPATOLOGY

Liver Transplantation
Pursuing living donor liver transplantation improves outcomes of patients with autoimmune liver diseases – An intention-to-treat analysis
Background: Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) offers the opportunity to decrease waitlist time and mortality for patients with AILD; autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). We compared the survival of patients with a potential live donor (pLDLT) on the waitlist vs. no potential live donor (pDDLT), on an intention-to-treat (ITT) basis. More

Hepatology
Waitlisting and liver transplantation for MetALD in the United States: An analysis of the UNOS national registry
Background and aims: The new steatotic liver disease (SLD) nomenclature introduced metabolic and alcohol-associated liver disease (MetALD), describing the intersection of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). Waitlisting and liver transplantation for MetALD are not well-defined. We aimed to develop and validate an algorithm for identifying SLD phenotypes and assessing trends in waitlisting and transplant outcomes. Moreore

American Journal of Transplantation
Pretransplant use of immune checkpoint inhibitors for hepatocellular carcinoma: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) as a downstaging or bridging therapy for liver transplantation (LT) in hepatocellular carcinoma patients are rapidly increasing. However, the evidence about the feasibility and safety of pre-LT ICI therapy is limited and controversial. To this end, a multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted in 11 Chinese centers. More

ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE

American Journal of Transplantation
A novel scoring system to predict short-term mortality after living donor liver transplantation for acute liver failure
Liver transplantation is often the only lifesaving option for acute liver failure (ALF); however, the predictors of short-term mortality (death within one year) after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for ALF have yet to be defined. We retrospectively collected patients ≥18 years old who underwent LDLT for ALF between 2010 and 2020 at 35 centers in Asia. More

Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health
Deep Learning-Based Prediction Modeling of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events After Liver Transplantation
Objective: To validate deep learning models’ ability to predict post-transplantation major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT). More

Pediatric Transplantation
Postoperative outcomes of acute-on-chronic liver failure in infants and children with biliary atresia
Introduction: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is associated with increased mortality and morbidity in patients with biliary atresia (BA). Data on impact of ACLF on postoperative outcomes, however, are sparse. More