Dear Colleague,

The International Liver Congress™ 2012 is set to be a record meeting with already over 8100 registered delegates! With only 2 weeks left, if you haven’t yet decided whether to join us in Barcelona, there’s no time to lose. This year’s scientific programme will feature among other hot topics; the launch of the iLiver app, interactive e-poster oral presentations, a Nurses & Associates Forum, State of the Art lectures on: Assessment of chronic liver disease by M.Pinzani and Basic research to improve antibiotics by A.Yonath (Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate 2009), as well as the EASL-IASL Postgraduate Course State of the Art lecture on Portal hypertension by D.Lebrec, and of course the release of new EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) on the Management of Alcoholic Liver Disease.

This week, EASL releases revised CPGs on the Management of HBV - an update of the 2008 guidelines. These CPGs include; modified indications for liver biopsy and treatment for HBeAg-negative patients, new stopping rules for pegylated interferon-alfa therapy, revised recommendations for patients with partial virological response at 12 months of therapy with entecavir (ETV) or tenofovir (TDF), the add-on strategy for resistance (better focus on lamivudine resistance) replaced by a switch strategy, recommendations for less frequent HBV DNA testing under ETV or TDF, and more detailed recommendations for specific subgroups (i.e. HBV and pregnancy and HBV & immunosuppression). Visit the CPGs page on EASL's website

We shall continue to update you on EASL news via the bi-monthly ‘What’s New’ newsletter.

See you in Barcelona, Spain, April 18-22!

The EASL Office

Mark Your Calendar for 2012

The International Liver Congress™ 2012

ILC 2012
April 18 - 22, 2012, Barcelona, Spain

EASL-AASLD Special Conference

Featuring leading international speakers, hot-topic debates on the usefulness of Genomics in HCV therapy and a vast scientific programme covering; Global scale intervention and control of HCV, prospects for a preventive HCV vaccine, the review of new drug treatments in development (Nonnucleoside inhibitors of HCV RNA polymerase, NS5A inhibitors, and Cyclophylin inhibitors) as well as the effectiveness of triple combinations in cirrhotics.

EASL Monothematic Conferences

Addressing a spectrum of conditions: hepatitis, cirrhosis, steatohepatitis, cancer and more. Learning how to understand the mechanisms involved will enable the development of much needed treatments for chronic liver disease.
An important element of this meeting will be discussions and interaction between delegates and speakers leading to collaboration, and the dissemination of ideas and knowledge.

EASL Endorsed Conferences

International Research Conference on Liver Cancer
July 5-7, 2012, Heidelberg, Germany

15th ISHEN Symposium on Hepatic Encephalopathies and Nitrogen Metabolism
May 29-June 2, 2012, Grenaa, Denmark

White Nights of Hepatology 2012
June 7-8, 2012, St Petersburg, Russia

EU Affairs

The Health Consumer Powerhouse (HCP) is working on "The Euro Hepatitis Index project", with the objective enabling a better understanding and comparison of the hepatitis health care provision in European countries.

EASL supports the efforts undertaken by the HCP and wishes to inform you that HCP is conducting a survey among hepatologists, patients, and other interested stakeholders. Results and figures obtained from this survey will be available on the HCP and ELPA websites after the Index launch in October 2012.

To give your views on the condition of your country's healthcare system, visit the online questionnaire most appropriate to your area of expertise:

a) Patient Care

b) Vaccination/Case finding/Screening

All contributions are anonymous.