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On the data, the distribution of the three types of tumor was found to be different from that reported in Western countries and in Japan; and the three types of patients who had undergone curative resection were found to have similar 5-year survival rates.

Background Technical capabilities for performing liver transplantation have developed rapidly; however, the lack of available livers has prompted the utilization of edge donor grafts, including those donated after circulatory death, older donors, and hepatic steatosis, thereby rendering it difficult to define optimal clinical outcomes. Objective We aimed to investigate the efficacy of telemedicine for follow-up management after liver transplantation. Methods To determine the efficacy of telemedicine for follow-up after liver transplantation, we performed a clinical observation cohort study to evaluate the rate of recovery, readmission rate within 30 days after discharge, mortality, and morbidity. Patients (n=110) who underwent liver transplantation (with livers from organ donation after citizen's death) were randomly assigned to receive either telemedicine-based follow-up management for 2 weeks in addition to the usual care or usual care follow-up only. Patients in the telemedicine group were given a robot free-of-charge for 2 weeks of follow-up. Using the robot, patients interacted daily, for approximately 20 minutes, with transplant specialists who assessed respiratory rate, electrocardiogram, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and blood glucose level; asked patients about immunosuppressant medication use, diet, sleep, gastrointestinal function, exercise, and T-tube drainage; and recommended rehabilitation exercises. Results No differences were detected between patients in the telemedicine group (n=52) and those in the usual care group (n=50) regarding age (P=.17), the model for end-stage liver disease score (MELD, P=.14), operation time (P=.51), blood loss (P=.07), and transfusion volume (P=.13). The length and expenses of the initial hospitalization (P=.03 and P=.049) were lower in the telemedicine group than they were in the usual care follow-up group. The number of patients with MELD score ≥30 before liver transplantation was greater in the usual care follow-up group than that in the telemedicine group. Furthermore, the readmission rate within 30 days after discharge was markedly lower in the telemedicine group than in the usual care follow-up group (P=.02). The postoperative survival rates at 12 months in the telemedicine group and the usual care follow-up group were 94.2% and 90.0% (P=.65), respectively. Warning signs of complications were detected early and treated in time in the telemedicine group. Furthermore, no significant difference was detected in the long-term visit cumulative survival rate between the two groups (P=.50). Conclusions Rapid recovery and markedly lower readmission rates within 30 days after discharge were evident for telemedicine follow-up management of patients post–liver transplantation, which might be due to high-efficiency in perioperative and follow-up management. Moreover, telemedicine follow-up management promotes the self-management and medication adherence, which improves patients’ health-related quality of life and facilitates achieving optimal clinical outcomes in post–liver transplantation.

BackgroundWhile studies have shown that cigarette smoking has negative implications on the long-term outcome following liver transplantation, its role in early complications is inconclusive.MethodsThe clinical data of 162 consecutive adult patients who underwent elective liver transplantation from January, 2012 to March, 2016 were analyzed. Patients were defined as active smokers, ex-smokers, or non-smokers on the basis of documentation at the time of liver transplantation. The overall complications following liver transplantation were expressed as the comprehensive complication index (CCI). The specific complications such as the incidence of hepatic artery thrombosis, biliary complications, acute kidney injury were also assessed. A meta-analysis was carried out based on results from the present study and 11 published studies.ResultsWe found that cigarette smoking was not associated with higher CCI scores and smokers did not have a higher risk for developing hepatic artery thrombosis, biliary complications, acute kidney injury after liver transplantation. Meta-analysis confirmed the null association between cigarette smoking and an increased incidence of hepatic artery thrombosis or biliary complications in liver transplant recipients. However, the pooled results showed a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and de-novo malignancies in smokers following liver transplantation.ConclusionThere is not enough evidence supporting an association between cigarette smoking and early mortality and morbidity after liver transplantation. However, smokers should still be encouraged to quit before and after liver transplantation due to the long-term health benefits of smoking cessation.

Background: Preoperative anemia is an important pillar of perioperative patient blood management. However, there was no literature comprehensively described the current situation of preoperative anemia in China. Methods: We conducted a national retrospective cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence and intervention of preoperative anemia in Chinese adults. Data were from the National Preoperative Anemia Database based on hospital administration data from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2018. Findings: A total of 797,002 patients were included for analysis. Overall, 27.57% (95% CI 27.47À27.67) of patients had preoperative anemia, which varied by gender, age, regions, and type of operation. Patients who were female, age over 60 years old, from South China, from provinces with lower per capita GDP, underwent operations on the lymphatic and hematopoietic system, with laboratory abnormalities were more likely to have a high risk of preoperative anemia. Among patients with preoperative anemia, 5.16% (95% CI 5.07À5.26) received red blood cell transfusion, 7.79% (95% CI 7.67À7.91) received anemia-related medications such as iron, erythropoietin, folic acid or vitamin B12, and 12.25% (95% CI 12.10À12.40) received

Traditionally, survival estimates following liver transplantation (LT) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients were calculated as survival from the surgery date, but future survival probabilities can change over time and conditional disease-free survival (CDFS) may provide patients and clinicians with more accurate prognostic information. This study aimed to assess CDFS in HCC patients after LT.Three hundred eighty-four HCC patients who underwent LT were included. Disease-free survival (DFS) was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier analysis. The 3-year CDFS, which represents the probability of remaining disease free for an additional 3 years, was calculated.1-, 3-, and 5-year DFS rates after LT were 69.9%, 45.8%, and 39.0 %, respectively. Based on the concept of CDFS, the probability of surviving an additional 3 years given that the patient was disease free at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years were 58.4%, 76.9%, and 83.1%, respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated that larger tumor size (hazard ratio [HR], 1.509; 95% CI, 1.146–1.985; P = 0.003) was associated with poorer DFS. Patients with worse prognostic features at baseline demonstrated the greater increase in CDFS over time.Survival estimates following liver transplantation of HCC patients change according to survival time accrued since surgery. CDFS estimates improved dramatically over time especially among patients with worse prognostic features at the time of surgery. CDFS may be a useful tool in counseling patients with HCC, as it is a more accurate assessment of future survival for those patients who have already survived a certain amount of time.

The reconstruction of arterial blood supply is very important for rat liver regeneration after reduced size liver transplantation. Emodin has the effect of promoting liver regeneration and improving liver function in rats after reduced size transplantation. The possible mechanism is improving proliferation of liver cell and protecting liver cells from injury.

Objective: Durable polymer sirolimus-eluting stents (DP-SES) are associated with a low risk of stent thrombosis; biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stents (BP-DES) were designed to reduce these risks. However, their benefits are still variable. Method: We undertook a meta-analysis of randomized trials identified by systematic searches of Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Database. Results: Eleven studies (9,676 patients) with a mean follow-up of 22.6 months were included. Overall, compared with DP-SES, BP-DES significantly lowered the rate of definite or probable stent thrombosis (RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.55-0.97; p = 0.03; I² = 0.0%) due to a decreased risk of very late stent thrombosis (RR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.11-0.63; p = 0.00; I² = 0.0%). However, BP-DES were associated with a comparable rate of early and late stent thrombosis. Meanwhile, BP-DES were associated with a broadly equivalent risk of target vessel revascularization (RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.78-1.03; p = 0.13; I² = 0.0%), cardiac death (RR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.72-1.09; p = 0.24; I² = 0.0%), myocardial infarction (RR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.84-1.26; p = 0.79; I² = 0.0%), and major adverse cardiac events (MACE; RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.83-1.0; p = 0.08; I² = 0.0%). Furthermore, angiographic data showed that in-stent and in-segment late luminal loss were similar between the two groups. Conclusions: Compared with DP-SES, BP-DES were associated with a lower rate of very late stent thrombosis and an equivalent risk of MACE. Larger randomized studies are needed to confirm this finding.