Worldwide, hepatitis B virus is a major cause of liver disease (acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer). Approximately, 350 million individuals are infected. According to WHO, hepatitis B virus infection caused 750 000 deaths in 2000. European countries are far from being spared by this dreadful agent.
In October 2008, the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) - Europe's leading association of medical professionals dedicated to promoting liver research and care - published its first Clinical Practice Guidelines on the management of chronic hepatitis B.
The guidelines aim to update existing guidelines for the optimal management of chronic hepatitis B. Publication of the guidelines is particularly timely, given the recent increase in understanding of the natural history of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the evaluation and licensing of several new antiviral agents.
Commenting on the new guidelines, Professor Jean-Michel Pawlotsky, EASL Secretary General said: "The need for global guidance in medical practice and tools to refine reimbursement policies in different European states and abroad has led EASL to start an ambitious Clinical Practice Guidelines initiative. This has now emerged as one of the priority actions for our association".
The present guidelines are intended to assist physicians and other healthcare providers, as well as patients and interested individuals in the clinical decision-making process, by describing a range of state-of-the-art approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic hepatitis B. In particular, the guidelines provide recommendations on:
* pre-therapeutic assessment of liver disease
* definition of the goals and end-points of therapy
* analysis of patient responses according to different therapies
* indication of treatment and results of current available therapies
* general baseline and on-treatment predictors
* treatment strategies and treatment failure management
* monitoring of treatment and stopping points
* treatment of patient with severe liver diseases
* treatment in special populations
"These long-awaited clinical guidelines on HBV management are just the first step for EASL. EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines will now follow for all important areas of hepatology and will be regularly updated." concluded Professor Pawlotsky.
About EASL
The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) aims to promote investigation into liver disease and improve the treatments that currently exist for these conditions. The association, through its annual meetings, seeks to inform and educate both the scientific community as well as society in general about the increasing occurrence of liver diseases along with the importance of understanding these conditions in order to treat and prevent them. Since its creation in 1966, the EASL congress has been hosted in 20 different European countries. Currently the association has over 1800 members and the annual congress attracts over 74000 delegates from over 65 countries each year.
EASL Governing Board
For more information, please contact:
Luisa Strani
Burson Marsteller
37 Square de Meeûs
1000 Brussels - Belgium
Tel: +32.2.743.66.11
Tel direct: +32.2.743.66.17
Mobile: +32.472.25.52.64
Fax: +32.2.735.85.28
E-mail: luisa.strani@bm.com
http://www.bmbrussels.eu
