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World J Gastrointest Surg. May 27, 2021; 13(5): 392-405
Published online May 27, 2021. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v13.i5.392
Expanding indications for liver transplantation in the era of liver transplant oncology
Guergana Panayotova, Keri E Lunsford, Nyan L Latt, Flavio Paterno, James V Guarrera, Nikolaos Pyrsopoulos
Guergana Panayotova, Keri E Lunsford, Flavio Paterno, James V Guarrera, Division of Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery, Department of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, United States
Keri E Lunsford, Center for Immunity and Inflammation, Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, United States
Nyan L Latt, Nikolaos Pyrsopoulos, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, United States
Author contributions: Panayotova G, Lunsford KE, Latt NL, Paterno F, Guarrera JV and Pyrsopoulos N contributed to the research, data collection, analysis, writing, and editing of this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors of this manuscript have no relevant conflicts of interest or disclosures to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Nikolaos Pyrsopoulos, FACP, MD, PhD, Director, Doctor, Professor, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, MSB H-538, Newark, NJ 07103, United States. pyrsopni@njms.rutgers.edu
Received: November 18, 2020
Peer-review started: November 18, 2020
First decision: January 7, 2021
Revised: February 23, 2021
Accepted: May 7, 2021
Article in press: May 7, 2021
Published online: May 27, 2021
Processing time: 183 Days and 3.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Liver transplantation in the setting of malignancy is currently limited to patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and hilar cholangiocarcinoma who meet specific criteria. While more expanded indications remain controversial, data that a wider spectrum of gastrointestinal malignancies may be amenable to liver transplant is emerging. Pre-transplant tumor characteristics and peri-transplant multi-modal treatment protocols can be combined to successfully refine patient selection and dramatically improve patient outcomes. Here we review the current literature for liver transplantation in the setting of select hepatic and nonhepatocellular liver-limited gastrointestinal malignancies.