When a suboptimal graft:recipient body weight ratio is accompanied by high rPVF in ALDLTx, the portal flow should be modulated perioperatively; splenic artery ligation is a simple and safe method that is sufficient to allow this modulation in most patients.

To investigate the safety and efficacy of somatostatin as liver inflow modulator in patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) undergoing liver transplantation (LT) (ClinicalTrials.gov number,01290172). Background: In LT, portal hyperperfusion can severely impair graft function and survival, mainly in cases of partial LT. Methods: Thirty-three patients undergoing LT for ESLD and CSPH were randomized double-blindly to receive somatostatin or placebo (2:1). The study drug was administered intraoperatively as 5-mL bolus (somatostatin: 500 mg), followed by a 2.5 mL/h infusion (somatostatin: 250 mg/h) for 5 days. Hepatic and systemic hemodynamics were measured, along with liver function tests and clinical outcomes. The ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) was analyzed through histological and protein expression analysis. Results: Twenty-nine patients (18 receiving somatostatin, 11 placebo) were included in the final analysis. Ten patients responded to somatostatin bolus, with a significant decrease in hepatic venous portal gradient (HVPG) and portal flow of À28.3% and À29.1%, respectively. At graft reperfusion, HVPG was lower in patients receiving somatostatin (À81.7% vs À58.8%; P ¼ 0.0084), whereas no difference was observed in the portal flow (P ¼ 0.4185). Somatostatin infusion counteracted the decrease in arterial flow (À10% vs À45%; P ¼ 0.0431). There was no difference between the groups in the severity of IRI, incidence of adverse events, long-term complications, graft, and patient survival. Conclusions: Somatostatin infusion during LT in patients with CSPH is safe, reduces the HVPG, and preserves the arterial inflow to the graft. This study establishes the efficacy of somatostatin as a liver inflow modulator.

Objective-Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an autosomal recessive connective tissue disorder with involvement of the skin, the retina, and the cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular involvement is mainly characterized by mineralization and fragmentation of elastic fibers of blood vessels and premature atherosclerosis. We conducted an ultrasound study to investigate the cardiovascular phenotype and to propose recommendations for the management of patients with PXE and heterozygous ABCC6 mutation carriers. Approach and Results-Thirty-two patients, 23 carriers, and 28 healthy volunteers underwent cardiac and vascular ultrasound studies. Cardiac imaging revealed left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with PXE with a significantly prolonged deceleration time and lower septal early diastolic velocities of the mitral annulus compared with controls. Carriers also demonstrated significantly prolonged deceleration time. Carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity was significantly increased in patients with PXE when compared with carriers and controls. Vascular imaging revealed a high prevalence of peripheral artery disease in both patients and carriers and a significantly higher carotid intima-media thickness compared with controls. Conclusions-The results of this study clearly demonstrate impaired left ventricular diastolic function, impairment of the elastic properties of the aorta, and a high prevalence of peripheral artery disease in patients with PXE. Carriers also seem to exhibit a cardiovascular phenotype with mainly mild diastolic dysfunction and accelerated atherosclerosis. Increased awareness for cardiovascular events in both patients and heterozygous carriers is warranted. The ABCC6 gene (chrom. 16p13.1) codes for an ATPdependent transmembrane transporter, which is most abundant in the liver and kidney. Remarkably, the expression of the ABCC6 transporter in tissues clinically affected by PXE is very low. 19 This observation led to the hypothesis that PXE is primarily a metabolic disorder in which circulating serum factor(s) plays a role. 17 Another, and probably complimentary, pathogenetic mechanism is the so-called cellular hypothesis in which fibroblast perturbation may evoke local mineralization and elastic fiber alterations. This hypothesis is based on the observation that elastic fiber alterations are not present homogeneously throughout the skin and blood vessels of patients with PXE, but only in peculiar regions. Moreover, PXE skin fibroblasts exhibit a distinct behavior with altered biosynthetic expression profile and cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions compared with fibroblasts from normal subjects. [20][21][22] This study focuses on the cardiovascular phenotype of patients with PXE and carriers. Cardiovascular changes in patients with PXE are characterized by (1) mineralization and fragmentation of elastic fibers of the internal elastic lamina, medial and adventitial layers of medium-sized arteries and aorta, as well as of the endocardium, pericardium, connective tissue around vessels in t...

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Regional cerebral saturation measurements can be used during pre-hospital ALS as an additional marker to predict ROSC. An increase of at least 15% in rSO during ALS is associated with a higher probability of ROSC.