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Background: To investigate the effect of extubation in the operating room (OR) on mechanical ventilation-related adverse outcomes in patients who undergo liver transplantation. Methods: Patients who underwent liver transplantation between January 2016 and December 2019 were included. According to the timing of extubation, patients were divided into OR extubation group and intensive care unit (ICU) extubation group. The propensity score was used to match OR extubation group and ICU extubation group at a 1:2 ratio by demographical and clinical covariates. The primary outcome was a composite of mechanical ventilation-related adverse outcomes, including 30-day all-cause mortality, in-hospital acute kidney injury (stage 2 or 3), and in-hospital moderate to severe pulmonary complications. Secondary outcomes included in-hospital moderate to severe infectious complications, unplanned reintubation rates, ICU and postoperative hospital lengths of stay, and total hospital cost. Results: A total of 438 patients were enrolled. After propensity score matching, 94 patients were in OR extubation group and 148 patients were in ICU extubation group. Incidence of the composite mechanical ventilation-related adverse outcomes was significantly lower in OR extubation group than ICU extubation group, even after adjusting for confounding factors (19.1% vs. 31.8%; Odds Ratio, 0.509; 95% Confidence Index [CI], 0.274-0.946; P=0.031). The duration of ICU stay was much shorter in OR extubation group than ICU extubation group (median 4, Interquartile range [IQR] (3 ~ 6) vs. median 6, IQR (4 ~ 8); P<0.001). Meanwhile, extubation in the OR led to a significant reduction of total hospital cost compared with extubation in the ICU (median 3.9, IQR (3.5 ~ 4.6) 10000 US dollars vs. median 4.1, IQR (3.8 ~ 5.1) 10000 US dollars; P=0.021). However, there were no statistically significant differences in moderate to severe infectious complications, unplanned reintubation rates, and the length of postoperative hospital stay between groups. Conclusions: Among patients who underwent liver transplantation, extubation in the OR compared with extubation in the ICU, significantly reduced the primary composite outcome of 30-day all-cause mortality, in-hospital acute kidney injury (stage 2 or 3), or in-hospital moderate to severe pulmonary complications. Trial registration: The trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov with registration number NCT04261816. Retrospectively registered on 1st February 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postoperative oral antiviral treatment with nucleoside or nucleotide analogues can suppress viral replication and reduce tumour recurrence for patients with hepatitis b virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-related HCC) after curative resection. However, the superior antiviral treatment is still unclear. We conducted this study to investigate the different effects of nucleotide and nucleoside analogues on the prognosis of HBV-related HCC after curative resection.Methods: From February 2007 to February 2016, 487 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed HCC according to the Milan criteria who underwent R0 resection were enrolled according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. According to their postoperative antiviral treatment, they were divided into the nucleotide group (NtA, n = 111) and the nucleoside group (NsA, n = 376).Results: The baseline characteristics, serologic parameters, tumour characteristics, and operative data of the 2 groups were comparable. Nucleotide analogue use significantly decreased HCC recurrence (P = 0.028) and HCC-related death (P = 0.004), with hazard ratios (HRs) of 0.685 (95% CI, 0.484 to 0.971, P = 0.033) and 0.507 (95% CI, 0.310 to 0.830, P = 0.004), respectively, in multivariate Cox analyses. After the study patients were stratified according to three variables, we found that nucleotide analogue use was significantly associated with increased disease-free and overall survival among patients with cirrhosis, HBeAg-negative patients, and patients with positive HBV-DNA.Conclusions: In patients with HBV-related HCC, nucleotide analogues but not nucleoside analogues significantly reduced HCC recurrence and improved overall survival after R0 hepatic resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective study was conducted to examine the development and current status of pediatric liver transplantation (LT) in western China. Clinical, demographic, morbidity, and mortality data were collected to analyze. It included 260 consecutive pediatric LTs performed at three centers in western China between January 2000 and May 2019. Kaplan‐Meier graft survival rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 82.1%, 77.2%, 76.6%, and 76.6%, respectively; corresponding patient survival rates were 84.7%, 80.7%, 80.0%, and 80.0%, respectively. More patients underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT; n = 188 (73.4%)) than deceased‐donor liver transplantation (DDLT; n = 68 (26.6%)). Survival was better after LDLT (91.5%, 86.6%, and 80.6% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively) than after DDLT (80.9%, 72.4%, and 63.9%, respectively; P <.05). Biliary atresia was the leading LT indication (n = 141 (55.1%)), followed by metabolic disease (n = 36 (14.1%)), which was associated with the best recipient survival (88.5% at 5 years). The transplant era and graft‐to‐recipient body weight ratio (GRWR) also significantly predicted overall survival. Survival rates at 5 years were worst in 2000‐2005 (54.5%) and best for GRWRs of 0.8%‐4% (80.4%). The development of pediatric LT in western China began slowly, but the quantity and quality of pediatric LT has progressed in recent years. This procedure is now a promising and reliable treatment for children with end‐stage liver disease in western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although numerous scoring models are available to predict the prognosis of patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT), the field lacks a simple model for quick prediction of the short-term survival of patients after LT in the event that the donor's information is not available in advance.Methods: A total of 1495 adult patients underwent LT in the present study. Three-quarters of recipients were randomly selected into the test set (n = 1121), while the remaining 25% formed the validation set (n = 374). Univariate and multivariate analysis and machine-learning techniques were applied to evaluate possible influencing factors. To further simplify the model, a weighted-scoring system was designed considering each influencing factor and its importance in an artificial neural network (ANN).Results: In the test set, multivariate analysis identified creatinine, age, and total bilirubin as independent risk factors, while albumin was an independent protective factor. Logistic regression analysis showed the C-statistic to be 0.650, while ANN indicated this to be 0.698. We simplified the model to obtain the final scoring model, for which the C-statistic was 0.636, and defined four risk grades. The 90-day mortality rates corresponding to the four risk levels were 6.2%, 11.8%, 24.0%, and 34.9%, respectively. In the validation set, the C-statistic value of the original model was 0.668 and that of the simplified model was 0.647.Conclusion: We developed a simple scoring system for the preliminary prediction of the postoperative 90-day mortality of adult LT based on preoperative characteristics of LT recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: LigaSure has been reported as a safe and effective approach for parenchymal transection in open hepatectomy; however, its roles in laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) with liver cirrhosis have not been evaluated. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of LigaSure vs. Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator (CUSA) for LH in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with cirrhosis.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 135 HCC patients with background cirrhosis who underwent pure LH using CUSA (n = 55) or LigaSure (n = 80) for parenchymal transection between January 2015 and May 2017 at West China Hospital of Sichuan University. We performed 1:1 propensity score matching between the LigaSure and CUSA groups. Subsequently, 48 patients were included in each group.Results: The mean parenchymal transection time (74.3 ± 23.6 vs. 86.3 ± 25.8 min, P = 0.019) in the LigaSure group was obviously shorter than that in the CUSA group. The LigaSure did not increase the intraoperative blood loss or blood transfusion requirement when compared with CUSA. Moreover, the degree of postoperative reperfusion injury and complications were not significantly different between the two groups. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the two groups regarding 2-year overall survival rate or disease-free survival rate. In addition, the total hospitalization costs (P = 0.032) and intraoperative costs (P = 0.006) per case were significantly lower in the LigaSure group than those in the CUSA group.Conclusion: The two devices were safe and effective for LH in patients with cirrhosis. The LigaSure method may be a simple, feasible, and cost-effective surgical technique for LH in selected HCC patients with cirrhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The treatment of intrahepatic recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been poorly investigated, and the optimal treatment strategy remains unclear.Aims: The aim of this study was to compare outcomes between salvage liver transplantation (SLT) and re-resection (RR)/radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for intrahepatic recurrent HCC according to recurrence pattern.Methods: Based on postoperative histopathological examination, 122 patients with intrahepatic recurrent HCC were divided into an intrahepatic metastasis (IM, n = 75) group and a multicentric occurrence (MO, n = 47) group. The demographic, clinical, and primary and recurrent tumor characteristics of the IM group and the MO group were collected and compared. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed, and subgroup analysis according to retreatment type (SLT vs. RR/RFA) was conducted. Twenty-nine clinicopathological variables potentially related to prognostic factors affecting survival were analyzed using a Cox proportional hazard model.Results: The patients that received SLT treatment exhibited favorable DFS compared to patients that received RR/RFA (P = 0.002). OS (P < 0.001) and DFS (P = 0.008) rates were significantly increased in the MO group compared with in the IM group. Subgroup analysis revealed that DFS was significantly improved for patients in the MO group treated with SLT compared to patients treated with RR/RFA (P = 0.017). Recurrence pattern was an independent prognostic factor for both OS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.093, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.026-0.337, P < 0.001] and DFS (HR = 0.318, 95% CI: 0.125-0.810, P = 0.016; HR = 3.334, 95% CI: 1.546-7.18, P = 0.002).Conclusions: For patients with intrahepatic recurrent HCC, an MO recurrence pattern is associated with better long-term outcomes than the IM pattern. SLT is the preferred option for intrahepatic recurrent HCC, especially for MO cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The optimal treatment strategy for patients with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. This study was designed to investigate the outcomes of salvage liver transplantation (SLT) and re-resection (RR)/radiofrequency ablation (RFA) with respect to the time to recurrence after initial curative resection.Methods: Between 2007 and 2016, 756 patients underwent curative hepatectomy for HCC in accordance with the Milan criteria. Among them, 152 experienced an intrahepatic recurrence and underwent SLT (n = 36) and RR/RFA (n = 116). Clinical data, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) (including subgroup analyses) according to the time to recurrence were statistically compared between the 2 groups, and prognostic factors were identified.Results: The DFS of the patients who underwent SLT was much better than that of the patients who underwent RR/RFA (P = 0.002), particularly those with late recurrence (more than 12 months, P = 0.004). The time to recurrence from initial hepatectomy was found to be an independent predictor of OS and DFS.Conclusions: SLT, rather than re-resection or RFA, should be the preferred treatment option for patients with late recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A considerable number of patients with portal hypertension (PHT) have to undergo splenectomy because they do not meet the requirements for liver transplantation (LT) or cannot find a suitable liver donor. However, it is not known whether pre-transplantation splenectomy may create occult difficulties for patients who require LT in future.Methods: We analyzed 1059 consecutive patients who underwent adult liver transplantation (ADLT). Patients with pre-transplantation splenectomy Sp(+) and without splenectomy Sp(-) were compared using a propensity score analysis to create the best match between groups.Results: There were no differences between patients in group Sp(+) and group Sp(-) with respect to the main post-operative infections (12.20% vs. 15.85%, P = 0.455), and the incidence of major complications (6.10% vs. 10.98%, P = 0.264). The post-operative platelet count was significantly higher in group Sp(+) (P = 0.041), while group Sp(-) had a higher rate of post-operative thrombocytopenia (91.46% vs. 74.39%, P = 0.006) and early allograft dysfunction (EAD) (23.20% vs. 10.98%, P = 0.038). The 5-year overall survival rates were similar in groups Sp(-) and Sp(+) (69.7% vs. 67.6%, P = 0.701).Conclusions: Compared with Sp(-), the risk of infection and post-operative complications in group Sp(+) was not increased, while group Sp(-) had a higher rate of post-operative EAD. Moreover, pre-transplantation splenectomy is very effective for the prevention of thrombocytopenia after LT. Pre-transplantation splenectomy is recommended in cases with risky PHT patients without appropriate source of liver for LT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective and Background: Although many studies on evaluating the safety of liver resection in obese patients have been conducted, the results remain contradictory. The aim of our study was to investigate the safety of overweight and obese patients undergoing liver resection for hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma in a large sample. Methods: In a retrospective cohort with 1543 hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma patients, the subjects were stratified into four groups according to their body mass index(BMI): obesity(BMI≥28), overweight(BMI:24.0–27.9), normal weight(BMI:18.5–23.9) and underweight(BMI<18.5). The Dindo–Clavien classification system was used for grading complications. Clinical characteristics and operative outcomes were compared among the four groups. Risk factors for postoperative complications were evaluated by multivariate analysis. Results: According to the category criteria of the Working Group on Obesity in China (WGOC) criteria, 73(4.7%) obese, 412(26.7%) overweight, 982(63.6%) normal weight and 76(4.9%) underweight patients were included in our cohort. Overweight and obese patients had more preoperative comorbidities such as hypertension(P<0.001). Mortality, total complications and complications classified by Clavien system were similar among the four groups except that the underweight patients had fewer total complications. However, postoperative wound complication was more common in overweight and obese patients(6.3% vs 2.5%,P<0.001,11.0% vs 2.5%,P = 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that BMI was not an independently significant factor for postoperative complications. Conclusions: Liver resection for obese and overweight patients is safe and BMI itself is not a risk factor for mortality and morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although hepatic resection (HR) has been recommended as the first-line treatment option for patients with a solitary tumor, the first-line treatment for patients with multifocal tumors meeting the Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage A still remains unclear. This study compared outcomes for patients with multifocal tumors meeting the BCLC stage A treated by HR and radiofrequency ablation (RFA).Study Design: A total of 384 consecutive patients with multifocal tumors meeting the BCLC stage A, who underwent HR (n = 224) or RFA (n = 160), were included. Moreover, propensity score-matched patients were analyzed to adjust for baseline differences.Results: The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates after HR and RFA were 96%, 71.7%, and 36.3%, and 90.0%, 72.7%, and 37.8%, respectively (p = 0.609); HR provided significantly better recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates than RFA at 1, 3, and 5 years (87.5%, 53.1%, and 20.1% vs 83.1%, 34.0%, and 9.7%, respectively, p = 0.001). Patients selected in the propensity-matching model showed similar results. Subgroup analysis also showed that HR was associated with better RFS than RFA for patients with 2 tumors, multifocal tumors located in the same lobe (Couinaud's segmentation) and segment (Takasaki's segmentation). Multivariate analysis revealed that 3 tumors, portal hypertension, and tumors located in different segments (Takasaki's segmentation) are independent predictors of poor prognosis in patients with multifocal tumors meeting the BCLC stage A.Conclusions: For patients with multifocal tumors meeting the BCLC stage A, HR may offer significantly better RFS than RFA, and HR may be considered as the first-line treatment option for those patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: The role of splenectomy on prophylaxis against hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) for HBV-related end-stage liver diseases with severe hypersplenism and splenomegaly remains unclear today. Methods: A total of 510 consecutive patients with HBV-related end-stage liver diseases who underwent LT in Liver Transplantation Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Chengdu, China) between June 1999 and October 2009 were studied retrospectively in this study. Patients were divided into three groups in this study: splenectomized group (group A, n =137), including preoperatively splenectomized subgroup (group A1, n =48) and intraoperatively splenectomized subgroup (group A2, n =89); nonsplenectomized group with severe hypersplenism (group B, n =95); and nonsplenectomized group without severe hypersplenism (group C, n =278). The incidence of posttransplant rejection, posttransplant infection, posttransplant hepatic cell carcinoma recurrence rate, and HBV recurrence rate were recorded. The end of the follow-up period was October 2010. Results: In this study, six patients with HBV recurrence were found in group A, 15 cases in group B, and 13 cases in group C during the follow-up period. (1) The incidence of posttransplant rejection in patients of group A was significantly lower than that in group B (P =0.0023) and also the HBV recurrence rates in group A markedly decreased (P =0.004). (2) The incidence of posttransplant rejection in group A was significantly lower than that in group C (P =0.0433); however, the incidence of posttransplant infection in group A largely increased compared with that in group C (P =0.0233). The HBV recurrence rates between group A and group C had no significant difference (P =0.804). (3) The HBV recurrence rates in group B were significantly higher than that in group C (P =0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study showed that splenectomy could significantly reduce the incidence of posttransplant rejection and HBV recurrence rate for the patients undergoing LT for HBV-related end-stage liver diseases with severe hypersplenism and splenomegaly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]