Cardiac and cerebral vascular diseases are leading causes of morbidity and death in solid organ transplant recipients. Immunosuppressant drugs are associated with dyslipidemia, hypertension, and hyperglycemia, which along with obesity are the main features of metabolic syndrome. In the nontransplant population, metabolic syndrome is associated with increased risk for major vascular complications. We postulated that metabolic syndrome is common post-liver transplantation and plays a significant role leading to cardiac and cerebrovascular events. Our Multi-Organ Transplant Program database was reviewed for all liver transplant recipients between January 1998 and June 2004 with follow-up until December 2005. We adapted the 2001 National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III Guidelines to define posttransplantation metabolic syndrome (PTMS) as the presence at least 3 of the following: 1) obesity (body mass index Ͼ30 kg/m 2 ); 2) serum triglyceride level Ն1.7 mmol/L; 3) high density lipoprotein level Ͻ1 mmol/L in men and Ͻ1.3 mmol/L in women; 4) hypertension; and 5) fasting plasma glucose Ն5.6 mmol/L. A total of 118 patients were included. Among them, 69 patients (58%) had PTMS. The mean (Ϯ standard deviation) time from transplant was 59 Ϯ 21 months (no significant difference in patients with or without metabolic syndrome). Overall, patients with metabolic syndrome had a significantly higher average age, posttransplantation body mass index, fasting glucose, high-density lipoprotein levels, and serum triglycerides. There was no difference in creatinine, hemoglobin, or prednisone average dose between the 2 groups. There were 25 major vascular events affecting 21% of patients. There were significantly more vascular events in patients with metabolic syndrome posttransplantation than in those without (30% vs. 8%; P ϭ 0.003) during the study period. In conclusion, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome post-liver transplant is significantly higher than that estimated in the general population. Metabolic syndrome appears to be associated with an increased risk of major vascular events in our liver transplant population.

Several advances in diagnosis, treatment and palliation of cholangiocarcinoma (CC) have occurred in the last decades. A multidisciplinary approach to this disease is therefore recommended. CC is a relatively rare tumor and the main risk factors are: chronic inflammation, genetic predisposition and congenital abnormalities of the biliary tree. While the incidence of intra-hepatic CC is increasing, the incidence of extra-hepatic CC is trending down. The only curative treatment for CC is surgical resection with negative margins. Liver transplantation has been proposed only for selected patients with hilar CC that cannot be resected who have no metastatic disease after a period of neoadjuvant chemo-radiation therapy. Magnetic resonance imaging/ magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, positron emission tomography scan, endoscopic ultrasound and computed tomography scans are the most frequently used modalities for diagnosis and tumor staging. Adjuvant therapy, palliative chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been relatively ineffective for inoperable CC. For most of these patients biliary stenting provides effective palliation. Photodynamic therapy is an emerging palliative treatment that seems to provide pain relief, improve biliary patency and increase survival. The clinical utility of other emerging therapies such as transarterial chemoembolization, hepatic arterial chemoinfusion and high intensity intraductal ultrasound needs further study.

Several advances in genetics, diagnosis and palliation of pancreatic cancer (PC) have occurred in the last decades. A multidisciplinary approach to this disease is therefore recommended. PC is relatively common as it is the fourth leading cause of cancer related mortality. Most patients present with obstructive jaundice, epigastric or back pain, weight loss and anorexia. Despite improvements in diagnostic modalities, the majority of cases are still detected in advanced stages. The only curative treatment for PC remains surgical resection. No more than 20% of patients are candidates for surgery at the time of diagnosis and survival remains quite poor as adjuvant therapies are not very effective. A small percentage of patients with borderline non-resectable PC might benefit from neo-adjuvant chemoradiation therapy enabling them to undergo resection; however, randomized controlled studies are needed to prove the benefits of this strategy. Patients with unresectable PC benefit from palliative interventions such as biliary decompression and celiac plexus block. Further clinical trials to evaluate new chemo and radiation protocols as well as identification of genetic markers for PC are needed to improve the overall survival of patients affected by PC, as the current overall 5-year survival rate of patients affected by PC is still less than 5%. The aim of this article is to review the most recent high quality literature on this topic.

No abstract