Chronic Hepatitis: Metabolic, Cholestatic, Viral and Autoimmune Falk Symposium

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Description

This book is the proceedings of Falk Symposium 157, entitled `Chronic Hepatitis: Metabolic, Cholestatic, Viral and Autoimmune', held in Freiburg, Germany, on 10--11 October 2006 (one of three symposia during the XIII Falk Liver Week 2006). It provides up-to-date information on new developments in the field of chronic hepatitis and its various entities.

In recent decades we have learned how heterogeneous the clinical entity of chronic hepatitis has become. The liver, as the central organ of metabolism and detoxification, is more than ever a target of disease processes evolving from the spread of obesity in the western world. Apart from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), alcoholic liver disease is still the most prevalent liver disease in the west.

Alcohol-induced liver disease exhibits a broad clinical spectrum from alcoholic steatohepatitis to cirrhosis. Alcoholic hepatitis is a disease entity with a particular poor prognosis. Any liver disease of unknown cause is suspected as being drug-associated. Every new drug metabolized in the liver has the potential to damage the liver.

Primary biliary cirrhosis has seen significant progress due to the identification of new risk factors based on new epidemiological studies. Interface hepatitis has become a prognostic marker as well as a therapeutic target. The treatment of autoimmune hepatitis has progressed significantly due to an individualized approach to immunosuppression.

Most challenging remains the treatment of viral hepatitis. The treatment of chronic hepatitis Band C has significantly improved due to numerous new drugs. For those patients with chronic hepatitis where either the cause is unknown or where treatment cannot prevent disease progression, understanding the mechanisms of fibrogenesis is a particular challenge.

Once cirrhosis has developed as a consequence of the interplay between necrosis, apoptosis, inflammation and regeneration, the successful prevention and management of complications of cirrhosis determines the prognosis of the individual patient. Therefore, understanding and managing complications of liver cirrhosis is of particular importance to the individual patient.

Once end-stage liver disease has developed, liver transplantation is a hope and not a threat to the patient. The field of liver transplantation has seen significant progress due to the latest developments to overcome organ shortage including living related organ donations. The book also contains two highlights: the Wolfgang Gerok State of the Art Lecture on the occasion of his 80th birthday, and the presention of the second international Dame Sheila Sherlock Award.