Hepatocellular carcinoma-resection or transplant?

Resection and liver transplantation are considered effective treatments for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). As data from randomized trials are lacking, the choice of technique is controversial. Retrospective analyses suggest that for patients with suboptimal liver function, transplantation is the preferred treatment. For patients with preserved liver function and HCC within the Milan criteria, the overall survival rate is similar for both techniques; therefore resection is the preferred treatment. For tumours beyond the Milan criteria but within acceptable expanded criteria, transplantation has a more favourable outcome than resection. As liver grafts are in short supply, resection followed by transplantation once intrahepatic recurrence is detected would spare patients with favourable or very aggressive tumours from transplantation and enable patients with moderately aggressive tumours to undergo timely transplantation. Currently, resection and transplantation are considered complementary in the management of HCC. Expanding the transplantation and resection criteria of HCC needs to be investigated.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Role of chemokines and chemokine receptors in the gastrointestinal tract

The pathological association between leucocytes and gastrointestinal diseases has long been recognized. Chemokines are a large family of chemotactic cytokines whose fundamental role is the recruitment of leucocytes to tissues. Although chemokines and their receptors are considered to be mediators of inflammation and tissue injury in several inflammatory diseases, their precise role in the pathophysiology of gastrointestinal diseases remains incompletely understood. Nonetheless, by virtue of their expression and localization at sites of gastrointestinal tissue injury and inflammation, a number of investigators have suggested a vital role for chemokines and their receptors in the pathophysiology of gastrointestinal diseases. This short review examines the role of chemokines and their receptors in the gastrointestinal tract with an emphasis on their involvement in the regulation of intestinal and hepatic inflammation