We are delighted to announce the two-day Up-to-Date Hepatology Course 2014, organized by the Romanian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (SRGH) – the Hepatology Focus Group and Center for Digestive Diseases and Liver Transplantation at Fundeni Clinical Institute Bucharest, that will take place in Bucharest, between April 25th – 26th, 2014.

The course is addressed to all gastroenterologists interested to share their knowledge and personal experience in the field of hepatology. Top European and Romanian experts will provide an overview of the current status, define potential hurdles and suggest strategies for improving care in patients with viral hepatitis and liver cirrhosis. Continuing the recent initiative of Prof. Markus Peck-Radosavljevic, EASL Secretary General, a group of Eastern European experts will debate specific problems of managing patients with liver diseases in countries with limited health care resources.

This is an exciting time for physicians treating patients with chronic hepatitis C. Triple therapy using protease inhibitors, Peg-interferon and Ribavirin significantly increased the efficacy, becoming standard-of-care in hepatitis C patients in many countries. Unfortunately this isn’t the case in Romania, despite the fact that chronic hepatitis C is a major health problem in our country. At the same time, the new and exciting era of interferon-free therapy – simpler, shorter, more effective and better tolerated – is already on horizons. It is anticipated that the accelerated drug development and approval of „new waves” of therapy will lead to regimen changes almost every 3 months, giving the chance of cure to more than 90% of treated patients.

Practical applications of current knowledge, management of real-life patients and specific problems such as access to therapy, who to treat, when to treat and how to treat, and how to make the new treatments available in countries with limited health care resources will be addressed during plenary sessions and interactive break-out sessions with experts.

We will focus as well on hepatitis B and D, discussing the current therapeutic options, the long-term outcome of chronically infected subjects, response assessment and monitoring and management of special populations.

Cirrhosis is the final pathway for any chronic liver disease and an important cause of morbidity and mortality in Romania and worldwide. In the cirrhosis day of the course we will take the audience on a tour of the most challenging complications of the disease. We will discuss the recent advances and the current evidence-based strategies to prevent the risk or treat patients with cirrhosis and its specific complications.

Finally, Bucharest, a vibrant and cosmopolitan capital has much to offer you, bathed in the spring light of April and full of shops, restaurants and cultural attractions.

Official language of the course: English

Assoc. Prof.  Liana Gheorghe 

Prof. Mircea Grigorescu

Prof. Ioan Sporea

Date: April 25th – 26th 2014

Location: Crown Plaza Hotel, Bucharest, Romania

Organizers

Organizing Scientific Committee

• Speranţa Iacob
• Iulia Pîrvulescu
• Iulia Siminov
• Roxana Şirli
• Costin Teodor Streba

Official language 

Day 1 (Hepatitis Day) A New Era in Viral Hepatitis

7.30-17.00 Registration

8.30-8.40 Wellcome

8.40-10.00
Plenary session 1
The current standard-of-care triple therapy for genotype-1 infected patients
Chair: Mircea Grigorescu, Vlad Ratziu, Anca Trifan

8.40-8.55 Global epidemiology, detection and access to therapy in Europe
Ioan Sporea, Romania

8.55-9.10 How to optimize triple therapy with 1^st generation of protease inhibitors in genotype-1 patients
Adrian Goldis, Romania

9.10-9.25 How to manage side effects of triple therapy with 1^st generation of protease inhibitors
Marina Maevskaya, Russia

9.25-9.40 Who should be treated now and who can wait
Iulia Simionov, Romania

9.40-10.00 Discussion

10.00-10.20 Coffee break

10.20-12.00 
Plenary session 2 
New antiviral regimens on horizon: How should we treat hepatitis C starting with 2015
Chair: Liana Gheorghe, Simona Ruta, Susanne Beckebaum

10.20-10.35 Hepatitis C – a virological perspective
Simona Ruta, Romania

10.35-10.50 New antiviral therapy in special populations: liver cirrhosis and liver transplant recipients
Susanne Beckebaum, Germany

10.50-11.05 Predictive factors of virological response to  triple therapy
Bela Hunyady, Hungary

11.05-11.20 Advantages of the 2^nd generation of IFN-based triple therapy
Anca Trifan, Romania

11.20-11.40 IFN-free regimens: protease, polymerase and NS5A inhibitors – the cocktail of the future
Vlad Ratziu, France

11.40-12.00 Discussion

12.00-13.30 Lunch

12.00-13.30 Luncheon sessions with experts (limited places available)

WORKSHOP 1 (30 places available)
Transilvania Room 
From trials to clinical practice in antiviral therapy for hepatitis C – current critical points in patients management (patients’ selection and monitoring during therapy, response assessment, management of adverse events)
Chairs: Vlad Ratziu, Speranta Iacob

WORKSHOP 2 (20 places available)
Moldova Room
Antiviral therapy of HBV infection – whom, when and how to treat
Chairs: Ferruccio Bonino, Mircea Diculescu

13.30-15.20 
Interactive plenary session 3 (Experts & Participants)
Facing new waves of antivirals for hepatitis C : a strategy for middle- and low-income countries
Chair: Alexandru Oproiu
Experts:  Ioan Sporea, Bela Hunyady, Jerzy Jaroszewski, Marina Maevskaya,  Anca Trifan, Mircea Diculescu, Liana Gheorghe, 

Part I Collecting the Central & East European Experts Opinion (Carol Stanciu)

Introduction (Carol Stanciu)
· A critical overview of current guidelines
Ioan Sporea (10 min)
· How has Hungary solved the problem of
access to reimbursed DAA therapy?
Béla Hunyady (10 min)
· How has Poland solved the problem of
access to reimbursed DAA therapy?
Jerzy Jaroszewicz (10 min)
· DAA therapy in limited-budget settings – ethical, medical, and economic aspects
Oliviu Pascu (10 min)

Part 2 Critical questions, General discussion and Voting
(Oliviu Pascu, Alexandru Oproiu)

(8-10 critical questions in perspective of DAA
therapy for hepatitis C in Romania will be discussed and voted giving the opportunity of a Professionals’ Letter addressed to authorities).

15.20-15.40 Coffee break

15.40-17.30
Plenary Session 4 
Hepatitis B therapy in the New Era 
Chair: Ferruccio Bonino, Ioan Sporea

15.40-15.55 First line therapy for hepatitis B : nucleoside analogs (NUCs)
Marcel Tantau, Romania

15.55-16.15 The new dashboard for the individualized management of the HBV carrier
Ferruccio Bonino, Italy

16.15-16.30 Clinical applications of HBsAg quantification
Jerzy Jaroszewicz, Poland

16.30-16.45 When to stop NUCs
Oliviu Pascu, Romania

16.45-17.00 Impact of HBV therapy on long-term outcome of liver disease
Mircea Diculescu, Romania

17.00-17.20 Hepatitis delta: an update 2014
Liana Gheorghe, Romania

17.20-17.40 Discussion

Closing

Day 2 (Cirrhosis Day) Managing Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

8.30-9.50
Plenary session 1
Assessment of pathophysiologic processes in liver diseases
Chair: Augusto Villanueva, Gabriel Becheanu, Monica Acalovschi

8.30-8.45 Non-invasive assessment of chronic liver disease
Annalisa Berzigotti, Spain

8.45-9.00 The role of pathology in diagnosis of liver disease
Elie Serge Zafrani, France

9.00-9.15 Molecular classification of hepatocellular carcinoma 
Augusto Villanueva, UK

9.15-9.30 Gut microbiota and liver diseases
Razvan Iacob, Romania

9.30-9.50 Discussion

9.50-10.20 Coffee break

10.20-12.00 
Plenary session 2
Complications of cirrhosis related to portal hypertension
Chair: Jaime Bosch, Cristian Gheorghe, Arun Sanyal

10.20-10.45 Acute variceal bleeding: risk, prevention and therapy
Jaime Bosch, Spain

10.45-11.00 Portal vein thrombosis and anti-coagulation in liver cirrhosis
Zeno Sparchez, Romania

11.00-11.15 Bacterial infections in cirrhosis
Dana Dobru, Romania

11.15-11.40 Hepatic encephalopathy 
Arun Sanyal, USA

11.40-12.00 Discussion

12.00-13.30 Lunch, Ballroom foyer

12.00-13.00 Luncheon sessions with experts (limited places available)

Workshop 1
(30 places available)
Transilvania Room
Complications related to portal hypertension – management in current clinical practice
Chair: Jaime Bosch, Cristian Gheorghe

Workshop 2
(20 places available)
Moldova Room
Treating hepatocellular carcinoma in a multidisciplinary team
Chair: Fabio Piscaglia, Adina Croitoru

13.30-15.00 
Plenary session 3
Liver cancer
Chair: Fabio Piscaglia, Ioana Lupescu, Adina Croitoru

13.30-13.45 Screening and diagnosis of HCC
Monica Acalovschi, Romania

13.45-14.05 Resection and transplantation for HCC 
Irinel Popescu, Romania

14.05-14.20 Percutaneous ablation therapy for HCC
Fabio Piscaglia, Italy

14.20-14.55 Chemo and radioembolization for HCC
Mugur Grasu, Romania

14.35-14.50 Systemic therapy for HCC
Markus Peck-Radosavljevic, Austria

14.55-15.15 Discussion

15.15-15.35 Coffee break

15.35-17.05 
Plenary session 4
Liver transplantation
Chair: Patrizia Burra, Irinel Popescu, Markus Peck-Radosavljevic

15.35-15.50 Correction of hereditary liver diseases by gene/cell therapy – current knowledge and future prospects
Michael Ott, Germany

15.50-16.05 Prophylaxis of HBV reinfection of the graft
Speranta Iacob, Romania

16.05-16.20 Treatment of HCV infection before and after liver transplantation
Liana Gheorghe, Romania

16.20-16.40 Long-term outcome and quality of life in liver transplant recipients
Patrizia Burra, Italy

16.40-17.05 Discussion

17.05-17.15 Closing remarks

Final Program PDF

Platinum sponsors

• Gilead Sciences
• Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson Romania SRL
• Merck Sharp & Dohme
• Abbvie

Gold sponsors

• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Roche Romania
• Innergy

Silver Sponsors

• Bayer Romania SRL Bayer HealthCare
• Alfa Wassermann

Sponsors

• BioPredictive
• Bioclinica
• EwoPharma
• Ferring