Clinical Advances and Challenges in Liver Transplantation: 3rd Edition
A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Gastroenterology & Hepatopancreatobiliary Medicine".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2026 | Viewed by 20
Special Issue Editor
2. Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Rome, Italy
Interests: geriatric anaesthesia; perioperative medicine; neuroscience (pain mechanisms; cognition) postoperative cognitive disorders; monitoring of anaesthesia depth; anaesthesia for robotic surgery; transplantation; hemodynamic monitoring
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is the third edition of “Clinical Advances and Challenges in Liver Transplantation” (Edition 1, Edition 2) and aims to further examine the rapidly changing field of liver transplantation (LT).
In recent years, transplant medicine has seen a continual expansion of donor criteria, with more frequent use of marginal grafts—such as elderly donors, steatotic livers, and donors after circulatory death (DCD). Simultaneously, recipients are being listed with more advanced diseases and complex comorbidities. This trend continues to present significant challenges related to graft function, vascular and biliary complications, and overall postoperative outcomes.
Meanwhile, new technological and diagnostic tools are changing the field. Advances in genomics, radiomics, and machine perfusion technologies provide exciting options to improve donor selection, organ preservation, and post-transplant care. In particular, machine perfusion is redefining what is considered an acceptable graft.
The selection criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) candidates are also evolving. There is an increasing emphasis on incorporating biological and immunological markers into decision making, beyond traditional morphologic parameters, to better predict recurrence and guide immunosuppression strategies.
Anaesthesiology now plays a key role in this complex situation, as perioperative management has a direct and measurable effect on transplant outcomes. Intraoperative hemodynamic optimisation, management of coagulopathy, use of viscoelastic testing, organ protection strategies, enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) ,and prehabilitation protocols are becoming essential parts of transplant programmes. Additionally, anaesthesiologists are increasingly involved in preoperative risk assessment and postoperative intensive care, making their role vital to the multidisciplinary management of LT patients.
This third edition of the Special Issue welcomes hepatologists, transplant surgeons, and anaesthesiologists, aiming to promote a comprehensive and multidisciplinary discussion on the current and future challenges of liver transplantation.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Clinical and perioperative management of marginal donors and high-risk recipients;
- Technological advances in organ preservation and assessment (e.g., machine perfusion, imaging, omics);
- Evolving strategies for selecting and managing HCC in the transplant setting;
- Perioperative strategies in LT: hemodynamics, coagulation, analgesia, and ERAS/prehabilitation protocols;
- Multidisciplinary approaches to optimising short- and long-term transplant outcomes;
- Immunological and metabolic considerations in pre- and post-transplant care.
We welcome original research articles and reviews that offer valuable insights into the clinical, surgical, anaesthesiologic, and technological aspects of liver transplantation.
Dr. Paola Aceto
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- liver transplantation (LT)
- elderly donors
- steatotic livers
- donors after circulatory death (DCD)
- hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
- perioperative management
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