New Challenges in Liver Transplantation

Dear Colleagues,

Since the first successful liver transplantation, this curative treatment concept has become a true success story for patients with an end-stage liver disease. Thanks to the establishment of surgical standards, the introduction of potent immunosuppressive drugs and the definition of follow-up, considerable improvements have been achieved not only in short-term, but also in long-term survival. Organ allocation, surgical and intensive care management, and immunosuppression, as well as long-term aftercare, have been greatly standardized.

Although it may seem that the most important quantum leaps in liver transplantation have already been accomplished, new developments and challenges continue to emerge, and their implications for liver transplant centers remain controversial: NASH (Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis) and NAFLD (Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) are increasingly important in Western countries, and their mechanisms and especially therapeutical options have yet to be explored. Changing demographics and their consequences on organ shortage, allocation and organ quality have greatly influenced research from machine-perfusion to patient selection criteria. Further, evaluations of expanding indication to oncological diseases have not shown visible progress and still leave much room to explore. The impact of robotic surgery for living donor liver transplantation has emerged as a valuable surgical improvement, while the need for a more tailored and individualized immunosuppressive regimen for optimal long-time outcome is gaining significance.

We would like to invite you and your co-workers to submit original research articles that address unresolved issues in transplant and recipient health in the short and long term, critical revisions of existing concepts, and visions in the field of liver transplantation to the Special Issue “New Challenges in Liver Transplantation”, which sets out to investigate these research areas and the scientific endeavors that are required to advance liver transplantation. We also encourage the submission of original manuscripts ranging from basic to clinical research focusing on the technical aspects of organ preservation, rejection and tolerance, biliary tract diseases, and the recurrence of underlying disease and de novo oncology.

Dr. Dennis Eurich
Dr. Ramin Raul Ossami Saidy
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• liver transplantation
• end-stage liver disease
• machine perfusion
• tolerance
• recurrence of underlying disease
• viral hepatitis
• ischemic-type biliary lesions
• immunosuppression
• de novo tumor