Summary The purpose of this registry study was to provide an overview of trends and results of liver transplantation (LT) in Europe from 1968 to 2016. These data on LT were collected prospectively from 169 centers from 32 countries, in the European Liver Transplant Registry (ELTR) beginning in 1968. This overview provides epidemiological data, as well as information on evolution of techniques, and outcomes in LT in Europe over more than five decades; something that cannot be obtained from only a single center experience.

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Background: Ultrasound-guided internal jugular venous access increases the rate of successful cannulation and reduces the incidence of complications, compared with the landmark technique. Three transducer orientation approaches have been proposed for this procedure: short-axis (SAX), long-axis (LAX) and oblique-axis (OAX). Our goal was to assess and compare the performance of these approaches. Methods: A prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted in one teaching hospital. Patients aged 18 yr or above, who were undergoing ultrasound-guided internal jugular cannulation, were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: SAX, LAX and OAX group. The main outcome measure was successful cannulation on first needle pass. Incidence of mechanical complications was also registered. Restricted randomization was computer-generated. Results: In total, 220 patients were analysed (SAX n=73, LAX n=75, OAX n=72). Cannulation was successful on first needle pass in 51 (69.9%) SAX patients, 39 (52%) LAX patients and 53 (73.6%) OAX patients. First needle pass failure was higher in the LAX group than in the OAX group (adjusted OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.71-8.0, P=0.002). A higher mechanical complication rate was observed in the SAX group (15.1%) than in the OAX (6.9%) and LAX (4%) groups (P=0.047). Conclusions: As OAX showed a higher first needle pass success rate than LAX and a lower mechanical complications rate than SAX, we recommend it as the standard approach when performing ultrasound-guided internal jugular venous access. Further clinical studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.

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The liver donor pool can be increased if liver grafts are accepted without an age limit but in good condition (hemodynamic stability, short intensive care unit stay, good liver function, soft consistency, cold ischemia time <9 hr, and no severe steatosis). Octogenarian donors should be individually assessed in the absence of these ideal conditions.

Fatty change in donor livers is a risk factor for poor function after orthotopic liver transplantation. Various prevalences of steatosis have been reported in time 0 biopsies. The aim of this research was to determine, in a longitudinal study, the degree (percent of hepatocytes involved) and type (size of vacuoles) of fatty change shown by various histologic techniques. Four staining methods were used on sections from three liver wedge biopsies—at liver procurement, at the back‐table, and after reperfusion—from 83 consecutive donor livers. Results in Sudan III‐stained (SS) sections showed the greatest sensitivity (87.1%), negative predictive value (91.8%), and agreement rate (κ= 0.77) when compared with results in thin (1 μm) plastic‐embedded toluidine blue‐stained (TBS) sections. High‐grade steatosis (>30% steatotic hepatocytes) was identified in 49.4% of SS sections, 46.9% of TBS sections, 38.5% of frozen hematoxylin‐eosin (H&E)‐stained sections, and 20.7% of deparaffinated H&E‐stained sections. Microscopic observations disclosed two types of steatotic pattern: (1) A predominantly small‐droplet lipid vacuolzation (high‐grade microsteatosis), similar to the steatosis associated with Reye syndrome, was seen in 29% of SS sections and 25% of TBS sections—approximately one‐fourth of grafts; and (2) a combined pattern of large and small fat drops (high‐grade macromicrosteatosis) was seen in 20% of SS sections and 22% of TBS sections. We concluded that moderate to severe steatosis is a frequent finding in donor livers. The difficulty in detecting lipidic microvacuoles in H&E‐stained sections may be the reason for underestimating the grade of fatty change or even for diagnosing as normal some biopsies with high‐grade microsteatosis.

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