Article
Oncology
Antonios E. Spiliotis, Sebastian Hollaender, Jeannette Rudzitis-Auth, Gudrun Wagenpfeil, Robert Eisele, Spyridon Nika, Orestis Mallis Kyriakides, Matthias W. Laschke, Michael D. Menger, Matthias Glanemann, Gereon Gaebelein
Summary: Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for hepatic tumors that combines the administration of chemotherapeutic agents with well-dosed electric pulses for cell membrane reversible electroporation. It reduces tumor oxygenation, increases tumor necrosis, and reduces tumor vascularization compared to reversible electroporation and chemotherapy. ECT is a valuable option for treating hepatic tumors with necrosis rates >85% five days post-treatment.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Daniel-Clement Osei-Bordom, Sivesh Kamarajah, Niki Christou
Summary: In the clinical management of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer, surgeons and oncologists categorize the metastasis into resectable and non-resectable groups to initiate tailored therapeutics. The combination of targeted therapies and biotherapies around these two entities is being actively explored to determine the ideal conditions for their application to improve patient survival and quality of life.
Article
Oncology
Tarik Bajri, Peter Kornprat, Florian Faschinger, Georg Werkgartner, Hans Jorg Mischinger, Doris Wagner
Summary: Sarcopenia is more prevalent in right-sided colorectal cancer patients and is associated with higher rates of postoperative complications and mortality related to cancer. Sarcopenia is independently associated with worse overall survival and disease-free survival.
Article
Oncology
Colm Neary, Lukas O'Brien, Emilie McCormack, Michael Kelly, Jarlath Bolger, Gerard McEntee, John Conneely
Summary: This study aims to define textbook outcomes (TBO) specific to surgical resection of colorectal liver metastases and investigate their impact on survival. The analysis of all liver resections performed at their center from 2009 to 2020 revealed that major morbidity was the major limiting factor in not achieving a TBO. Achieving a TBO was associated with a significant improvement in survival.
JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Oncology
Alexandra Nassar, Stylianos Tzedakis, Alix Dhote, Marie Strigalev, Romain Coriat, Mehdi Karoui, Anthony Dohan, Martin Gaillard, Ugo Marchese, David Fuks
Summary: This literature review aimed to assess the feasibility of laparoscopic liver resection for multiple colorectal liver metastases. The minimally invasive approach for liver cancer has become a new standard of oncological care, and laparoscopic liver resection is a significant indication for multiple colorectal liver metastases. The purpose of this paper was to highlight the novelty and updates in the field of multiple minimally invasive liver resections and discuss the feasibility and outcomes of laparoscopic concomitant multiple liver resections for colorectal liver metastases.
Review
Cell Biology
Diamantis I. Tsilimigras, Ioannis Ntanasis-Stathopoulos, Timothy M. Pawlik
Summary: The liver is a common site for metastasis in colorectal cancer patients due to the direct connection between the colon and rectum and the liver through the portal vein circulation. The liver tumor microenvironment consists of different cell types that modulate antigen recognition and immune system activation. Primary tumors from other sites create a pre-metastatic niche in the liver before the seeding of cancer cells. There are four key phases in the development of liver metastases: microvascular infiltration, extravascular pre-angiogenesis, angiogenesis, and tumor growth.
Article
Surgery
Jenna N. Whitrock, Stephen J. Hartman, Shimul A. Shah
Summary: In patients with unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer, chemotherapy alone is associated with significant mortality. Liver transplant is emerging as a promising treatment alternative for appropriately selected patients. Several key clinical trials, including SECA-I and SECA-II, have demonstrated promising survival outcomes, and further trials are ongoing to evaluate the safety of this approach.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Carolin Czauderna, Kim Luley, Nikolas von Bubnoff, Jens U. Marquardt
Summary: Liver metastases are the most common site of metastasis in colorectal cancer. Current treatment approaches involve systemic therapies and surgical/interventional strategies, with the use of predictive and prognostic biomarkers leading to improved survival rates. Treatment selection based on patient status, tumor characteristics, and molecular/genetic status is recommended for better outcomes.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Review
Oncology
Drew Maclean, Maria Tsakok, Fergus Gleeson, David J. Breen, Robert Goldin, John Primrose, Adrian Harris, James Franklin
Summary: Colorectal liver metastases exhibit heterogenous histopathological and immunohistochemical phenotypes, impacting treatment responses and outcomes. Advanced imaging techniques like multiparametric MRI and functional imaging have the potential to provide clinically-actionable phenotypic characterisation. Advanced analysis techniques such as radiomics and machine learning play a growing role in linking imaging features to clinically relevant tumour phenotypes.
FRONTIERS IN ONCOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Dongchan Kim, Bhavya Gupta, Geoffrey Yuet Mun Wong
Summary: The liver is the most common site of metastasis in colorectal cancer. Multimodal treatment, including liver resection, is potentially curative and prolongs survival for selected patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). However, the treatment of CRLM remains challenging because recurrence is common, and prognosis varies widely between patients despite curative-intent treatment. Clinicopathological features and tissue-based molecular biomarkers, either alone or in combination, are insufficient for accurate prognostication. As most of the functional information in cells resides in the proteome, circulating proteomic biomarkers may be useful for rationalising the molecular complexities of CRLM and identifying potentially prognostic molecular subtypes. High-throughput proteomics has accelerated a range of applications including protein profiling of liquid biopsies for biomarker discovery. Moreover, these proteomic biomarkers may provide non-invasive prognostic information even before CRLM resection. This review evaluates recently discovered circulating proteomic biomarkers in CRLM. We also highlight some of the challenges and opportunities with translating these discoveries into clinical applications. (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Research Network of Computational and Structural Biotechnology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
COMPUTATIONAL AND STRUCTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2023)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Maria Beatrice Bocchi, Cesare Meschini, Silvia Pietramala, Andrea Perna, Maria Serena Oliva, Maria Rosaria Matrangolo, Antonio Ziranu, Giulio Maccauro, Raffaele Vitiello
Summary: This review evaluated the effectiveness of electrochemotherapy in the treatment of bone metastases. The findings suggest that electrochemotherapy can be considered as a minimally invasive and tissue-sparing treatment for patients who have no other alternatives for tumor control and improvement in quality of life.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Serban Puia-Negulescu, Fanny Lebosse, Jean-Yves Mabrut, Xavier Muller, Guillaume Rossignol, Teresa Antonini, Domitille Erard, Sylvie Radenne, Marielle Guillet, Jean-Christophe Souquet, Kayvan Mohkam, Mickael Lesurtel
Summary: Liver transplantation for patients with nonresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer, although historically perceived poorly, is being revisited due to recent advances in chemotherapy and immunosuppression. Promising results have been shown in new data, which are currently undergoing validation in ongoing clinical trials. Given the scarcity of liver grafts, new tools are being explored to expand the donor pool for this indication.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Geoffrey Yuet Mun Wong, Connie Diakos, Thomas J. Hugh, Mark P. Molloy
Summary: Colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) are a major cause of death in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). Liver resection is the main treatment for select patients with CRLM, but effective treatment remains challenging due to high rates of recurrence. Genomic profiling has improved our understanding of CRC, but the functional context at the protein level is not well-established. Proteomic biomarkers are being explored for predicting CRLM and recurrence. This review aims to rationalize the proteomic complexity of CRC and explore the potential applications of proteomic biomarkers in CRLM.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Oncology
Jennie Engstrand, Johanna Sterner, Kristina Hasselgren, Cecilia Stromberg, Christian Sturesson
Summary: This study assessed the likelihood of colorectal cancer patients with liver and lung metastases receiving curative treatment and explored the reasons for treatment failure and survival outcomes. The results showed that only a small proportion of patients completed the initially intended curative resections, and simultaneous resection of liver/lung metastases and primary tumor may increase the proportion of fulfilled hepatopulmonary resections.
Article
Oncology
Rohin Gawdi, Cristian D. Valenzuela, Omeed Moaven, John A. Stauffer, Nico R. Del Piccolo, Tanto Cheung, Carlos U. Corvera, Andrew D. Wisneski, Charles Cha, Perry Shen, Greg Russell, Nima Zarandi, Justin Dourado
Summary: This study examined the impact of neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and perioperative chemotherapy on the outcomes of patients with resectable colorectal-liver metastases (CLM). The results showed that adjuvant and perioperative chemotherapy were independently associated with improved overall survival (OS) compared to surgery alone.
JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Surgery
Davide Ghinolfi, Quirino Lai, Paola Carrai, Stefania Petruccelli, Marta Morelli, Fabio Melandro, Giandomenico Biancofiore, Paolo De Simone
Summary: The study evaluated the impact of DAAs treatment in liver transplantation, showing that DAAs can reduce the risk of HCV-related graft loss in recipients over 70 years old and improve outcomes for older transplant recipients regardless of their HCV serological status.
UPDATES IN SURGERY
(2022)
Article
Oncology
Manuela Cabiati, Melania Gaggini, Paolo De Simone, Silvia Del Ry
Summary: This study aimed to identify new potential biomarkers of HCC by analyzing the expression and regulatory role of key genes through data mining. The results showed that OPN may serve as an important tumor marker and be associated with poor prognosis in HCC patients.
CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL METASTASIS
(2022)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Matteo Ravaioli, Quirino Lai, Maurizio Sessa, Davide Ghinolfi, Guido Fallani, Damiano Patrono, Stefano Di Sandro, Alfonso Avolio, Federica Odaldi, Jessica Bronzoni, Francesco Tandoi, Riccardo De Carlis, Marco Maria Pascale, Gianluca Mennini, Giuliana Germinario, Massimo Rossi, Salvatore Agnes, Luciano De Carlis, Matteo Cescon, Renato Romagnoli, Paolo De Simone
Summary: Italy's policy of giving national allocation priority to patients with a model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score ≥30 has resulted in more liver transplants, fewer dropouts, and shorter waiting times for patients with MELD ≥30. However, there is still a higher risk of graft loss in these cases. The size of transplant centers and competition among centers may play a role in recipient prioritization and outcomes.
JOURNAL OF HEPATOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Stefano Gitto, Lucia Golfieri, Nicolo Mannelli, Maria Rosa Tame, Ivo Lopez, Roberta Ceccato, Stanislao Montanari, Margherita Falcini, Giovanni Vitale, Nicola De Maria, Danilo Lo Presti, Luca Marzi, Andrea Mega, Giovanna Valente, Alberto Borghi, Francesco Giuseppe Foschi, Silvana Grandi, Paolo Forte, Matteo Cescon, Fabrizio Di Benedetto, Pietro Andreone, Giulio Arcangeli, Paolo De Simone, Andrea Bonacchi, Francesco Sofi, Maria Cristina Morelli, Marco Petranelli, Chloe Lau, Fabio Marra, Francesca Chiesi, Francesco Vizzutti, Vittoria Vero, Roberto Di Donato, Sonia Berardi, Paolo Pianta, Sharon D'Anzi, Filippo Schepis, Noemi Gualandi, Francesca Miceli, Erica Villa, Guido Piai, Marco Valente, Claudia Campani, Erica Lynch, Paolo Magistri, Carmela Cursaro, Annarita Chiarelli, Paola Carrai, Stefania Petruccelli, Monica Dinu, Giuditta Pagliai
Summary: This study assessed the quality of life after liver transplant during the current pandemic. The results showed that female patients and individuals with a sedentary lifestyle or inactive work had worse quality of life, while physical activity and adherence to a Mediterranean diet might help improve quality of life.
LIVER INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Article
Surgery
Quirino Lai, Davide Ghinolfi, Alfonso W. Avolio, Tommaso M. Manzia, Gianluca Mennini, Fabio Melandro, Francesco Frongillo, Marco Pellicciaro, Zoe Larghi Laureiro, Rebecca Aglietti, Antonio Franco, Claudia Quaranta, Giuseppe Tisone, Salvatore Agnes, Massimo Rossi, Paolo de Simone
Summary: This study aimed to identify a scoring method to predict the risk of liver-related graft discard before transplantation and tested its accuracy in predicting negative biopsy features and early graft loss post-transplantation.
UPDATES IN SURGERY
(2022)
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Fabio Melandro, Giuseppina Basta, Francesco Torri, Giandomenico Biancofiore, Serena Del Turco, Francesco Orlando, Fabio Guarracino, Paolo Maremmani, Chiara Lazzeri, Adriano Peris, Paolo De Simone, Davide Ghinolfi
Summary: This systematic review highlights the clinical evidence supporting the use of normothermic regional perfusion in DCD liver transplantation, emphasizing its potential benefits and addressing technical, logistic, and regulatory aspects.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Davide Ghinolfi, Fabio Melandro, Damiano Patrono, Quirino Lai, Riccardo De Carlis, Stefania Camagni, Alessandro Gambella, Franco Ruberto, Paolo De Simone
Summary: This article describes a new ex-situ machine perfusion device, showcasing its technology using a model of liver grafts from slaughtered pigs after circulatory death. The device demonstrated stable perfusion under both hypothermic and normothermic conditions, with no technical failures observed. A built-in adsorption device effectively removed inflammatory cytokines during treatment. This preliminary experience provides a starting point for further research on the potential clinical benefits of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators adsorption during machine perfusion.
Article
Anesthesiology
Gianmarco Guarino, Gabriella Licitra, Davide Ghinolfi, Paolo Desimone, Francesco Forfori, Maria L. Bindi, Gianni Biancofiore
Summary: The study found that the use of a veno-venous bypass during liver transplantation did not alleviate the increased renal venous back-flow caused by inferior vena cava clamping, leading to renal congestion and reduced renal perfusion pressure.
MINERVA ANESTESIOLOGICA
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Davide Ghinolfi, Fabio Melandro, Francesco Torri, Massimo Esposito, Maria Bindi, Giandomenico Biancofiore, Giuseppina Basta, Serena Del Turco, Chiara Lazzeri, Maria Isabella Rotondo, Adriano Peris, Paolo De Simone
Summary: The use of pre-procurement normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) allows for controlled DCD liver transplantation, with comparable results to brain death donors. However, logistic challenges and post-transplant complications have led to a decline in the use of uncontrolled DCD. In Italy, the combination of NRP and ex-situ machine perfusion has been used to counterbalance the negative effects of prolonged warm ischemia.
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Giuseppina Basta, Fabio Melandro, Serena Babboni, Serena Del Turco, Rudina Ndreu, Francesco Torri, Caterina Martinelli, Beatrice Silvestrini, Adriano Peris, Chiara Lazzeri, Fabio Guarracino, Riccardo Morganti, Paolo Maremmani, Pietro Bertini, Paolo De Simone, Davide Ghinolfi
Summary: This study aimed to explore the impact of normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) on liver function in organ donations after circulatory death (DCDs) by evaluating dynamic changes of circulating markers and hepatic gene expression. The results showed that controlled DCDs had lower levels of inflammatory and liver damage markers but higher levels of osteopontin, sFas, flavin mononucleotide, and succinate compared to uncontrolled DCDs at the start of NRP.
LIVER TRANSPLANTATION
(2023)
Article
Pathology
Manuela Cabiati, Melania Gaggini, Paolo De Simone, Costanza Salvadori, Serena Del Turco, Chiara Caselli, Antonella Cecchettini, Silvia Del Ry
Summary: The study evaluated the transcriptional profile of adrenomedullin (AM) and its specific receptors (CLR, RAMP1, RAMP3) in liver tissues of HCV-positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing liver transplantation (LR). The expression of AM and its receptors in extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by tumorigenic and non-tumorigenic cells was also assessed. The results showed significantly higher levels of AM in LR compared to donors (LD) and higher levels correlated with clinical severity in HCC patients. AM was found to be a regulator of carcinogenesis and tumor progression.
PATHOLOGY RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
(2023)
Article
Surgery
Fabio Melandro, Quirino Lai, Davide Ghinolfi, Tommaso Maria Manzia, Gabriele Spoletini, Massimo Rossi, Salvatore Agnes, Giuseppe Tisone, Paolo De Simone
Summary: Despite the controversial results of liver transplantation in elderly recipients, this study found that liver transplantation in elderly patients (>= 65 years) provides favorable but inferior results compared to younger patients. Early allograft dysfunction was more frequent in elderly patients, and recipient age >= 65 years was an independent risk factor for patient death and graft loss. Cold ischemia time seems to be a crucial factor for favorable outcomes in elderly patients.
UPDATES IN SURGERY
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Maria Rendina, Michele Barone, Chiara Lillo, Silvia Trapani, Lucia Masiero, Paolo Trerotoli, Francesca Puoti, Luigi Giovanni Lupo, Francesco Tandoi, Salvatore Agnes, Antonio Grieco, Enzo Andorno, Simona Marenco, Edoardo Giovanni Giannini, Umberto Baccarani, Pierluigi Toniutto, Amedeo Carraro, Antonio Colecchia, Matteo Cescon, Maria Cristina Morelli, Umberto Cillo, Patrizia Burra, Paolo Angeli, Michele Colledan, Stefano Fagiuoli, Luciano De Carlis, Luca Belli, Paolo De Simone, Paola Carrai, Fabrizio Di Benedetto, Nicola De Maria, Giuseppe Maria Ettorre, Valerio Giannelli, Salvatore Gruttadauria, Riccardo Volpes, Sveva Corsale, Vincenzo Mazzaferro, Sherrie Bhoori, Renato Romagnoli, Silvia Martini, Giorgio Rossi, Lucio Caccamo, Maria Francesca Donato, Massimo Rossi, Stefano Ginanni Corradini, Marco Spada, Giuseppe Maggiore, Giuseppe Tisone, Ilaria Lenci, Giovanni Vennarecci, Raffaella Tortora, Marco Vivarelli, Gianluca Svegliati Baroni, Fausto Zamboni, Laura Mameli, Silvio Tafuri, Simona Simone, Loreto Gesualdo, Massimo Cardillo, Alfredo Di Leo
Summary: This study evaluated the prevalence, mortality, and lethality of COVID-19 infection in liver transplant recipients (LTRs) compared to non-liver solid transplant recipients (NL-SOTRs) and the general population (GP) in Italy. The results showed that the infection, mortality, and lethality rates in LTRs were lower than NL-SOTRs and comparable to the Italian GP. The discussion suggests that LTRs may have a different immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to NL-SOTRs, possibly due to the immunotolerance induced by the grafted liver.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Valentina D. Mangano, Daniela Campani, Andrea Cacciato Insilla, Barbara Coco, Maria Angeles Gomez Morales, Maurizia Brunetto, Giuseppe La Rosa, Alessandra Ludovisi, Paolo De Simone, Fabrizio Bruschi
Summary: This case report emphasizes the importance of careful screening for parasitic infections in solid organ transplantation candidates.
Article
Surgery
Eishan Ashwat, Christof Kaltenmeier, Hao Liu, Dheera Reddy, Ann Thompson, Stalin Dharmayan, Subhashini Ayloo, Silvio Nadalin, Olga Ciccarelli, Qingyong Xu, Rene Adam, Vincent Karam, Krzystof Zieniewicz, Darius Mirza, Michael Heneghan, Renato Romagnoli, Andreas Paul, Daniel Cherqui, Johann Pratschke, Karim Boudjema, Peter Schemmer, Fernando San Juan Rodriguez, Peter Lodge, Paolo de Simone, Phillippe Bachellier, Jiri Fronek, Constantino Fondevila, Michele Molinari
Summary: The Liver Transplant Risk Score (LTRS) is a clinical tool used to predict post liver transplant outcomes. This study validated the performance of the LTRS in a cohort of European patients.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY
(2023)
