Prevention of acute liver failure

Aim of this project was the evaluation of the effect of flushing (intraportal and intraoperative) hepatic allografts with tacrolimus before transplantation. Group A was administered tacrolimus, 20ng/ml in 1500ml albumin solution; and Group B was administered only albumin solution. Wedge biopsie of the allograft were harvested after 15 min flushing time and the gene expression profile were determined. The primary study objective was to determine on a genome-wide basis whether intraoperative and intraportal treatment of the allograft with tacrolimus reduces inflammatory signature in the liver. The secondary objective was the causally test, whether suppression of genes belongong to the ontologies of inflammation and immune response by tacrolimus will lead to a better initial function of the liver. randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial