Anoop N. Koshy, Omar Farouque, Paul Calafiore, Paul J. Gow – 11 November 2019

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee promotes health disparities research and efforts to improve health outcomes among ethnic and racial groups who carry a higher burden of liver disease. Based on positive feedback from the 2018 workshop on Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Liver Disease, this two-hour workshop reviews current programmatic efforts to eliminate disparate outcomes in liver disease and liver transplantation.

Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF) is a well-recognized rapid course of liver disease that can have devastating consequences on patients. At this symposium, faculty will discuss ACLF’s common triggers and explore current perspectives of management in the context of these triggering events. Topics covered include microbiome analysis to identify high-risk patients and the role of transplantation.

Review data from ongoing clinical trials for alcoholic hepatitis, explore the role of early liver transplantation and discuss the management of alcohol use disorder in patients with alcoholic hepatitis and acute on chronic liver failure. Topics covered include trial design considering standards of care and liver transplantation’s emerging role and subject recruitment challenges for clinical trials in alcoholic hepatitis.

Immunosuppression in the liver transplant setting includes multiple drugs aimed at predetermined trough levels, adjusted to time after transplantation. Excellent graft and patient survival supports immunosuppression, but there may be significant short- and long-term risks. At this presentation, experts will discuss clinical approaches to immunosuppression in liver transplant patients, including biomarkers used for safe personalization of this process.

Discuss the current state of the ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program for gastroenterologists and transplant hepatologists at this update. Speakers will review the expense, time commitment and relevance of this program’s requirements; current MOC requirements in the program; the means to meet these requirements; progress made in addressing concerns from ABIM diplomats; and alternative pathways to board recertification.

Value-Based Arrangements are increasingly becoming part of the healthcare landscape. The goal of this program is to educate and empower hepatologists to be valuable contributors to the success of these new arrangements and play an active role in developing and implementing beneficial approaches.

This comprehensive program will offer the hepatology provider updated information on managing patients with liver disease and/or in the post-transplant setting. Speakers will review new evidence and the latest tools to help providers deliver high-quality patient care, change practice approaches where needed and help improve patient outcomes.

Experts share new research in molecular hepatocarcinogenesis in the setting of NASH at this program, including global obesity trends, the association of metabolic syndrome and HCC, and HCC surveillance in patients with NASH/metabolic syndrome. They will present and compare evidence on HCC diagnosis and management specific to patients with obesity that may be applied to clinical practice.

If you are a general practitioner caring for patients with a variety of liver diseases, this hepatology update is designed for your needs. Review significant new findings in hepatology and how they may affect current clinical practice, ask questions and discuss challenges faced in daily clinical settings.