Liz Highleyman
Published:13 November 2019

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Leaders of liver disease associations from Europe, the United States, Latin America and Asia issued a global call to action at the AASLD Liver Meeting this week in Boston, aiming to advance toward the goal of eliminating hepatitis C as a public health threat.
Approximately 71 million people worldwide have chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), and around 1.75 million more acquire the virus annually, according to the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), which sponsors the conference.
In 2016, World Health Organization member states committed to eliminating viral hepatitis, with targets including an 80% reduction in new hepatitis B and C infections and a 65% reduction in mortality by 2030. Studies have shown that these targets are achievable, but to date countries have had variable success in moving toward them.
The new statement, signed by representatives of AASLD, the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), the Latin American Association for the Study of the Liver (ALEH) and the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL), calls for efforts to simplify HCV testing and treatment in order to make them more widely available, especially in resource-limited settings.
The four associations, which are undertaking this initiative in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), outlined four strategies to achieve this goal:

• Simplifying diagnosis and treatment algorithms
• Integrating hepatitis C treatment into primary care and other disease programmes
• Decentralising HCV services to the local level
• Task-sharing with primary care clinicians and other health care practitioners.

TO CONTINUE:http://www.infohep.org/page/3547774/?utm_source=NAM-Email-Promotion&utm_medium=conference-bulletin&utm_campaign=English

By MICHAEL NINBURG​ NOVEMBER 15, 2019

I traveled to Boston last weekend for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. This meeting is personal for me — it was where 11 years ago I decided to begin treatment for hepatitis C, which I had been diagnosed with nearly 20 years earlier.
Hepatitis C is the nation’s deadliest infectious disease and a leading cause of liver cancer. Although recent advances in treatment represent lifesaving progress, more must be done to deliver on the promise of these advances and eliminate viral hepatitis in the United States.
I was initially diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1990, but, like many people with it, I deferred treatment — the options available had low success rates, significant side effects, and were time-consuming. For a while the complications were minimal, but by the early 2000s my tests began to show signs of liver disease. By 2008, I had signs of cirrhosis, which is scarring of the liver, a sign of late-stage liver disease and a precursor to liver failure.

At the 2008 liver diseases meeting in San Francisco, which I was attending as a longtime viral hepatitis advocate, Dr. Nezam Afdhal, who is now the chief of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, convinced me to enroll in a clinical trial for a promising new hepatitis C drug.
The 48 weeks of treatment included weekly injections of pegylated interferon, twice daily doses of ribavirin, an antiviral medication, and 12 weeks of an experimental drug called telaprevir, a direct-acting antiviral. When the treatment ended in December 2009, my blood tests showed no signs of the hepatitis C virus. Six months later, I was told I was cured. Even better, scans show that my liver has started to heal itself and reverse the decades of damage from hepatitis C.

Related:
Most state Medicaid programs continue to restrict access to hepatitis C medicines
My story — and my health — are a testament to the lifesaving potential of new treatments. Yet even though we now have cures for hepatitis C, and a vaccine to prevent hepatitis B, steps must be taken to reach the populations who are disproportionately affected by this disease, including certain racial and ethnic minorities, baby boomers, people who inject drugs, and some recipients of blood transfusions and organ transplants, in order to eliminate viral hepatitis in the U.S.
To start, the U.S. needs a national elimination strategy with dedicated funding. In 2016, the World Health Organization drafted the global viral hepatitis strategy to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. It was signed by all WHO members, including the U.S. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also has a National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan, but it’s not enough. We need dedicated funding from Congress for national awareness and testing efforts. We also need funding to support the CDC’s draft recommendation for all adults to receive a one-time hepatitis C antibody test.

TO CONTINUE READING: https://www.statnews.com/2019/11/15/hepatitis-needs-more-action-united-states/?fbclid=IwAR017eh6-7z2CalzqGbDSeEM0PHaP

OCTOBER 30, 2019 / NEWS RELEASES
Goal of procedure is to improve recovery of living donors, which may encourage more donationsMedia ContactCaroline Auger 216.636.5874

Cleveland Clinic has successfully performed the Midwest’s first purely laparoscopic living donor surgery for liver transplantation in an adult recipient. The advanced procedure is available at only a few hospitals worldwide, and Cleveland Clinic is the second U.S. academic medical center to offer this approach for living donor liver transplantation.
Unlike open surgery that requires a large incision to access the liver, the laparoscopic procedure is performed with surgical tools and a camera inserted through a few half-inch holes in the abdomen of the living donor. Once the piece of the liver is dissected, the surgeon retrieves the graft through a small incision below the navel. The minimally invasive technique benefits the living donor, who experiences better postoperative recovery and a quicker return to normal life, less pain, smaller scars, and lower risk of an incisional hernia compared with traditional open surgery.

About five percent of people who undergo a liver transplant receive the organ from a living donor who has made the altruistic decision to give up a portion of their liver to save someone else’s life. The liver is the only organ that can regenerate, which makes it possible for a living person to donate a portion of their liver. It can take six to eight weeks for a healthy liver to grow back to its original size.

TO CONTINUE STORY: https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2019/10/30/cleveland-clinic-performs-its-first-purely-laparoscopic-living-donor-surgery