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Background: Primary extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors (E-GIST) of the liver are rare. The clinical presentation may range from asymptomatic to bleeding or manifestations of mass effect. Oncologic surgery followed by adjuvant therapy with imatinib is the standard of care. However, under specific circumstances, a cytoreductive approach may represent a therapeutic option. We describe herein the case of an 84-year-old woman who presented with a tender, protruding epigastric mass. Abdominal computed tomography scan revealed a large, heterogeneous mass located across segments III, IV, V, and VIII of the liver. The initial approach was transarterial embolization of the tumor, which elicited no appreciable response. Considering the large size and central location of the tumor and the advanced age of the patient, non-anatomic complete resection was indicated. Due to substantial intraoperative bleeding and hemodynamic instability, only a near-complete resection could be achieved. Histopathology and immunohistochemical staining confirmed the diagnosis of primary E-GIST of the liver. Considering the risk/benefit ratio for therapeutic options, debulking surgery may represent a strategy to control pain and prolong survival., Case Summary: Here, we present a case report of a patient diagnosed with E-GIST primary of the liver, which was indicated a cytoreductive surgery and adjuvant therapy with imatinib., Conclusion: E-GIST primary of the liver is a rare conditional, the treatment is with systemic therapy and total resection surgery. However, a cytoreductive surgery will be necessary when a complete resection is no possible., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Liver transplant (LT) is the primary treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease. About 25000 LTs are performed annually in the world. The potential for intraoperative bleeding is quite variable. However, massive bleeding is common and requires blood transfusion. Allogeneic blood transfusion has an immunosuppressive effect and an impact on recipient survival, in addition to the risk of transmission of viral infections and transfusion errors, among others. Techniques to prevent excessive bleeding or to use autologous blood have been proposed to minimize the negative effects of allogeneic blood transfusion. Intraoperative reinfusion of autologous blood is possible through previous self-donation or blood collected during the operation. However, LT does not normally allow autologous transfusion by prior self-donation. Hence, using autologous blood collected intraoperatively is the most feasible option. The use of intraoperative blood salvage autotransfusion (IBSA) minimizes the perioperative use of allogeneic blood, preventing negative transfusion effects without negatively impacting other clinical outcomes. The use of IBSA in patients with cancer is still a matter of debate due to the theoretical risk of reinfusion of tumor cells. However, studies have demonstrated the safety of IBSA in several surgical procedures, including LT for hepatocellular carcinoma. Considering the literature available to date, we can state that IBSA should be routinely used in LT, both in patients with cancer and in patients with benign diseases., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Background: Reliable measurement of basal energy expenditure (BEE) in liver transplant (LT) recipients is necessary for adapting energy requirements, improving nutritional status and preventing weight gain. Indirect calorimetry (IC) is the gold standard for measuring BEE. However, BEE may be estimated through alternative methods, including electrical bioimpedance (BI), Harris-Benedict Equation (HBE), and Mifflin-St. Jeor Equation (MSJ) that carry easier applicability and lower cost., Aim: To determine which of the three alternative methods for BEE estimation (HBE, BI and MSJ) would provide most reliable BEE estimation in LT recipients., Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study including dyslipidemic LT recipients in follow-up at a 735-bed tertiary referral university hospital. Comparisons of BEE measured through IC to BEE estimated through each of the three alternative methods (HBE, BI and MSJ) were performed using Bland-Altman method and Wilcoxon Rank Sum test., Results: Forty-five patients were included, aged 58±10 years. BEE measured using IC was 1664±319 kcal for males, and 1409±221 kcal for females. Average difference between BEE measured by IC (1534±300 kcal) and BI (1584±377 kcal) was +50 kcal (p=0.0384). Average difference between the BEE measured using IC (1534±300 kcal) and MSJ (1479.6±375 kcal) was -55 kcal (p=0.16). Average difference between BEE values measured by IC (1534±300 kcal) and HBE (1521±283 kcal) was -13 kcal (p=0.326). Difference between BEE estimated through IC and HBE was less than 100 kcal for 39 of all 43patients., Conclusions: Among the three alternative methods, HBE was the most reliable for estimating BEE in LT recipients., Competing Interests: none

Arterial conduits are necessary in nearly 5% of all liver transplants and are usually constructed utilizing segments of donor iliac artery. However, available segments of donor iliac artery may not be lengthy enough or may not possess enough quality to enable its inclusion in the conduit. Although there are few reports of arterial conduits constructed solely utilizing prosthetic material, no previous reports of conduits composed of a segment of donor iliac artery and prosthetic material (mixed biologic and synthetic arterial conduits) were found in the medial literature to date. Two cases reporting successful outcomes after creation of mixed biologic and prosthetic arterial conduits are outlined in this report. Reason for creation of conduits was complete intimal dissection of the recipient's hepatic artery in both cases. In both cases, available segments of donor iliac artery were not lengthy enough to bridge infrarenal aorta to porta hepatis. Both patients have patent conduits and normally functioning liver allografts, respectively, at 4 and 31 months after transplant. Mixed biologic and synthetic arterial conduits constitute a viable technical option and may offer potential advantages over fully prosthetic arterial conduits.

Background. Transarterial chemoembolization alone or in association with radiofrequency ablation is an effective bridging strategy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma awaiting for a liver transplant. However, cost of this therapy may limit its utilization. This study was designed to evaluate the outcomes of a protocol involving transarterial embolization, percutaneous ethanol injection, or both methods for bridging hepatocellular carcinomas prior to liver transplantation. Methods. Retrospective review of all consecutive adult patients who underwent a first liver transplant as a treatment to hepatitis C-related hepatocellular carcinoma at our institution between 2002 and 2012. Primary endpoint was patient survival. Secondary endpoint was complete tumor necrosis. Results. Forty patients were analyzed, age 58 ± 7 years. There were 23 males (57.5%). Thirty-six (90%) out of the total 40 patients were within Milan criteria. Complete necrosis was achieved in 19 patients (47.5%). One-, 3-, and 5-year patient survival were, respectively, 87.5%, 75%, and 69.4%. Univariate analysis did not reveal any variable to impact on overall patient survival. Conclusions. Transarterial embolization, ethanol injection, or the association of both methods followed by liver transplantation comprises effective treatment strategy for hepatitis C-related hepatocellular carcinoma. This strategy should be adopted whenever transarterial chemoembolization and/or radiofrequency ablation are not available options.

Purpose: According to the current criteria, the diagnosis of early allograft dysfunction usually cannot be established before the end of the first week after liver transplantation. Thus, early predictive tests for detecting allograft dysfunction are still warranted to prevent allograft failure. This study was undertaken to assess the role of low serum factor V activity as an early prognostic factor (postoperative day 2) after liver transplantation., Methods: A retrospective review of all consecutive adult patients who underwent first orthotopic whole-graft liver transplant at our institution between March 2002 and June 2011 was undertaken. Primary endpoint was graft failure within 90 days after transplantation., Results: Of all 105 patients analyzed in this study, 39 (37.1 %) were female and 66 (62.9 %) were male. Mean age was 52.7 ± 11.7 years, and median follow-up period was 2474 ± 164 days. There were overall 33 (31.4 %) deaths, 13 of those occurring on the first 90 post-transplant days. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that serum factor V lower than 41.5 % and female gender had a negative impact not only on allograft failure/death within 90 days after transplantation (RR = 5.30, CI = 1.40-20.2, p = 0.015 and RR = 5.23, CI = 1.53-21.33, p = 0.008) but also on overall mortality. For prediction of allograft failure/death occurring during the first 3 months, serum factor V level of 41.5 % or lower exhibited a specificity of 87.9 %, a sensitivity of 42.9 %, an accuracy of 81.9 %, a positive predictive value of 35.3 %, and a negative predictive value of 90.9 %., Conclusions: Assessment of serum factor V levels on postoperative day 2 might be a promising prognostic tool for early prediction of inferior outcomes after liver transplantation.

Perioperative mortality following pancreaticoduodenectomy has improved over time and is lower than 5% in selected high-volume centers. Based on several large literature series on pancreaticoduodenectomy from high-volume centers, some defend that high annual volumes are necessary for good outcomes after pancreaticoduodenectomy. We report here the outcomes of a low annual volume pancreaticoduodenectomy series after incorporating technical expertise from a high-volume center. We included all patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy performed by a single surgeon (ADC.) as treatment for periampullary malignancies from 1981 to 2005. Outcomes of this series were compared to those of 3 high-volume literature series. Additionally, outcomes for first 10 cases in the present series were compared to those of all 37 remaining cases in this series. A total of 47 pancreaticoduodenectomies were performed over a 25-year period. Overall in-hospital mortality was 2 cases (4.3%), and morbidity occurred in 23 patients (48.9%). Both mortality and morbidity were similar to those of each of the three high-volume center comparison series. Comparison of the outcomes for the first 10 to the remaining 37 cases in this series revealed that the latter 37 cases had inferior mortality (20% versus 0%; P = 0.042), less tumor-positive margins (50 versus 13.5%; P = 0.024), less use of intraoperative blood transfusions (90% versus 32.4%; P = 0.003), and tendency to a shorter length of in-hospital stay (20 versus 15.8 days; P = 0.053). Accumulation of surgical experience and incorporation of expertise from high-volume centers may enable achieving satisfactory outcomes after pancreaticoduodenectomy in low-volume settings whenever referral to a high-volume center is limited.

Organs from deceased donors with traumatic abdominal injury, peritoneal contamination and open abdomen are usually discarded due to risks of transmission of severe infections to the recipient. There are no specific recommendations regarding organ utilization from these donors, but they might be an unexplored source able to attenuate organ shortage. Herein, the first successful report of a case involving liver transplantation using a liver allograft procured from a deceased donor with an open abdomen is outlined. This donor was a young trauma patient in which peritoneal contamination had occurred following a gunshot wound. Also included in this the report is liver transplant from a donor, who also was a trauma victim with an enteric perforation. The decision-making process to accept liver allografts from donors with a greater risk of peritoneal infection involved the absence of uncontrolled sepsis or visible contamination of the cavity. Appropriate donor-recipient matching and adequate anti-infectious management might have contributed to a favorable outcome, which suggest that these donors can be used as alternatives to reduce organ shortage.

Background: Long-term insulin independence after islet transplantation depends on engraftment of a large number of islets. However, the yield of pancreatic islets from brain-dead donors is negatively affected by the up-regulation of inflammatory mediators. Brain death is also believed to increase tissue factor (TF) expression, contributing to a low rate of engraftment., Methods: We conducted a case-control study to assess brain death-induced inflammatory effects in human pancreas. Seventeen brain-dead patients and 20 control patients undergoing pancreatectomy were studied. Serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin (IL) 6, IL-1β, interferon (IFN) γ, and TF were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Gene expressions of these cytokines and TF were evaluated by reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Protein quantification was performed by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded pancreas sections., Results: Brain-dead patients had higher serum concentrations of TNF and IL-6 and increased TNF protein levels compared to controls. The groups had similar TNF, IL-6, IL-1β, and IFN-γ messenger RNA levels in pancreatic tissue. Reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed TF messenger RNA up-regulation in controls. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that brain-dead patients had increased TNF protein levels compared to controls., Conclusions: Brain death induces inflammation evidenced by the up-regulation of TNF in serum and pancreatic tissue. Blocking the expression of key inflammatory mediators in brain-dead donors should be evaluated as a new approach to improve the outcomes of islet transplantation.