Welcome

About twenty years ago, a small and driven grassroots group of about 100 clinicians and researchers from diverse fields, all particularly interested in how the clotting cascade acts in patients with liver diseases, joined forces. Their purpose was to create a forum to explore in depth the particular and vexing blood-related difficulties that they and their liver patients faced: not only bleeding, but also thrombosis, coagulation pathways disorders, and other vascular challenges in liver disease.

Logo design by medical illustrator, Anita Impagliazzo
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The meetings were held in different cities across the globe from the initial event in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, to Groningen, The Netherlands; London, UK; Padua, Italy; and Rome, Italy. The attendance, consistently ranging from about 80 to 120 professionals from diverse specialities, catalysed the interest and endorsement of EASL.

Through the years, each meeting had a unique twist, especially with the development and growth of unexpected collaborations, as a result of people from diverse backgrounds coming together. The early meetings generally focussed on challenging old dogma. The 2013 meeting (Padua, Senzolo/Simioni) was a turning point, as new and better-founded paradigms started to be noticed and carefully investigated further. The 2015 meeting was special for us, as it came back around to Charlottesville. Most memorable to me from that meeting was the Pathologists’ perspective on thrombotic mechanisms in parenchymal extinction or liver atrophy[1] – when things really start to fall apart for the patient

said Dr Stephen H. Caldwell, Professor of Hepatology at University of Virginia, USA, who has been been involved in this event since the very start.

Much in the field remains unsettled and is yet to be learned, even today. I can give a key example: one of the most enduring debates in this field is the clinical diagnosis of hyperfibrinolysis responsive to anti-fibrinolytic agents and the inability of even advanced laboratory testing to provide a simple measure of this. Is the diagnosis off or is the lab missing the mark? Another really key area is whether or not prophylactic anti-coagulation can stave off organ atrophy. This is of the utmost importance to investigate, regarding especially the establishment of risk versus benefit. Future meetings will help us unravel the answers.

[1] With credit to the pathologists involved: Y Ikura, C Lackner, D Kleiner and I Wanless

We welcome everyone involved in the management of liver disease patients: including hepatologists, gastroenterologists, radiologists, interventional radiologists, haematologists, transplant and general surgeons, anaesthesiologists, intensive care doctors and nurses, hospitalists (often providing frontline care for these patients), anatomical and clinical pathologists, and basic scientists interested in the underlying mechanisms of haemostasis and the haemostatic cascade, and/or liver disease.  We look forward to forging further progress in this challenging  intersection between hepatology and haematology, and to catering to the interests, needs, and passions of those interested in this topic.

We remember the unique circumstances that allowed this unique meeting to come about We strive to serve the patient community better, as we learn more. Let the discussion, debate, and deliberations continue!