From Past to Future

A Brief Introduction to the 19th Conference of the APASL

As an important academic activity in the field of hepatology, APASL has greatly promoted scientific advancement of hepatology in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in the world since its first foundation in 1978. The 19th Conference of the APASL, 2009 will be held in Hong Kong, and it is the second time for Hong Kong to host the APASL conference. This article will give you a brief introduction to the preparation, schedule, and main contents of this meeting.

The Organizing Committee of the 19th Conference of the APASL has attached great importance to this conference. Ever since the official notification was received, it has proceeded to prepare, including venue arrangement, program development, expert contact, promotion, etc, in order to insure a prosperous meeting. Over 1,000 abstracts were collected to this meeting, indicating new developments and advancements in scientific research and exchange in Asia-Pacific region. According to the registration information, at least 3,000 participants are expected to attend this conference, and in the meantime, a good many media and pharmaceutical companies will take part in to cover the Conference. Inheriting the success of previous meeting, doctors from China represent the largest number of participants, which is followed by doctors from Korea and Japan. The Conference has also attracted experts from other Asia-Pacific region, as well as experts from Europe and United States. This is a true international conference on hepatology.

Appropriate schedule with novel and substantial contents

According to the conference schedule, the first day will focus on continuing education courses. The major topics are about interventional liver disease and are divided into 5 parts. One topic,“The Role of Clinical Hepatologist in HCC”, which will mainly discuss the role played by physicians in HCC treatment,is a relatively new topic. From the tradi-tional point of view, once a liver cancer is confirmed, the patient should be transferred from medicine to surgery for operation. However, as the field of hepatology develops, for a patient with liver cancer or liver disease to receive well integrated treatment, it is necessary for hepatologists to extend his own specialty to get a comprehensive understanding of related information on hepatology of both medicine and surgery, so that better treatment effect would be allowed. On the other hand, in the last two APASL conferences, attention from many experts in the field of hepatology was arrested by this topic; therefore, the 19th APASL Conference succeeds them in this part and adds relatively new contents on medicinesurgery interaction. Radiology in liver cancer, the latest advance in liver cancer,and related issues before liver transplantation have also received considerable attention.

Other important topics include the application of the combination therapy of Chinese medicine and western medicine,as well as the latest advance in acute liver failure. An intra-conference meeting held by APASL and Society of Infectious Disease, Chinese Medical Association, is also worth attention, as it will discuss the problems encountered from hepatitis to liver failure and how to cope with them.

The opening ceremony will take place on the second day. The conference’s president, Professor George K.K. Lau, will be present with previous presidents and give a splendid speech. The president of the First Conference of the APASL,Professor Lawrie Powell from Australia,will give an introduction of the history of APASL background and development course of APASL since its first establi hment.  he opening will also witness an important development of APASL - the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between APASL and the American Association for the Study of the Liver (AASLD),marking the important collaboration between the 2 societies.

The opening ceremony will be followed by the Presidential Lecture delivered by Prof George K.K. Lau on “Management of Chronic Hepatitis B Infection in Asia-Pacific Region - 2009 and Beyond”and the Kunio Okuda Lecture by Professor Sheung-Tat Fan on “Liver Transplantation on HCC”.

There will be also the concurrent sessions which focus on the treatment of HCV, controversy in guideline of HBV,HCC prevention and surveillance. Also there will be the APASL-China Joint Symopsium talking on the development of HCC in viral hepatitis.

On the 3rd day, the interactive session amoung the three major societies,AASLD, APASL, and EASL, will become a highlight of the conference on that day.Based on the three major guidelines, the symposium will discuss such topics as the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B, etc.State-of-the-Art Lectures including “Clinical Relevance of Occult HBV Infection”by Prof F. Blaine Hollinger, “Acute Liver Failure” by Prof Roger S. Williams and“The insight of human liver proteome project” by Prof Fuchu He will also give the audience a new perspective on liver disease. Concurrent Sessions on that day will cover topics on HBV Treatment, Liver Fibrosis and Virology. Not to miss the“Falk Workshop: Autoimmune hepatitis and overlap syndromes - East meets West”.

The last day will also be filled with exciting program. The USJMSCP-NIHAPASL Joint Symposium on Anti-viral Resistance will provide views and data on the issue by experts from all over Asia-Pacific as well as Europe and United States. Stateof-the-Art Lectures will cover topics on“Hepatitis B Virus Infection and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: The Past and FutureProspectives” by Prof Masao Omata, “Advances in hepatitis C infection” by Prof Michael P. Manns, “Evolving Challenges in Hepatic Fibrosis” by Prof Scott L. Friedman, “The Partnership between Industry and Academic Medicine” by Prof Nikolai V. Naoumov. Other more topics will be discussed in the concurrent session:Fatty Liver Disease, HCC Virology, Liver Transplantation, Immunology in Viral Hepatitis, HCC Treatment, Liver Cirrhosis and Liver Failure, HCC Basic and Pancreatobiliary Disease.

(By Organization Committee of APASL)