Webcast - Cirrhosis, liver cancer and transplantation
As part of EASL’s continuing series on COVID-19 and the liver, Professor Agustin Albillos, Dr Gwilym Webb and Dr Massimo Iavarone come together for a three-part discussion on COVID-19, cirrhosis, liver cancer and transplantation.
Learning objectives:
Understand the impact of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in patients with COVID-19 infection, the outcomes and how to manage the care for these patients
Learn more about the challenges encountered for liver cancer surveillance and management during the COVID-19 pandemic
Understand how COVID-19 has affected liver transplantation and what are the risks for liver transplant recipients
Target audience:
Hepatologists
General practitioners
Health care professionals
Clinical researchers and scientists
1. Cirrhosis
Part 1 focuses on how COVID-19 impacts people with liver cirrhosis. Dr Webb begins by presenting published data on the outcomes for patients with chronic liver disease or autoimmune hepatitis who contract COVID-19. The faculty then discuss a range of questions arising from the data, such as: are patients with compensated cirrhosis at increased risk of mortality from COVID-19; can the virus trigger acute decompensation; how do decompensated cirrhosis and respiratory failure contribute to mortality in these patients; how will patients with liver disease be cared for in the current wave; and what is the effect of immunosuppression on prognosis?
If you wish to obtain a certificate of completion for this webcast, please click here.
2. Liver transplantation
Part 2 addresses how COVID-19 has impacted liver transplantation. Dr Iavarone opens the webcast by presenting international data on organ transplantation trends and morbidity/mortality outcomes in liver transplant patients with COVID-19 compared with the general population. The faculty then discuss a range of questions, such as: how does cirrhosis-related immune dysfunction affect disease outcomes; how should COVID-19 affected patients with cirrhosis be prioritised; how should immunosuppression be managed in patients with cirrhosis and COVID-19; and how can healthcare systems change to ensure that transplants can continue during the pandemic?
If you wish to obtain a certificate of completion for this webcast, please click here.
3.Liver cancer
Part 3 looks at how COVID-19 has impacted detection and management for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients. Dr Iavarone begins by presenting international data on how the pandemic has affected both surveillance and treatment for HCC. The faculty then discuss a range of questions arising from the data, such as: what factors contribute to patient willingness to continue with surveillance; what is the role of nurses in this process; and how will the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors change during the pandemic?
If you wish to obtain a certificate of completion for this webcast, please click here.
Biographies
Agustin Albillos is Professor of Medicine at the University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain and Head of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid. Professor Albillos’ research interests focus on cirrhosis and its complications, cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction and the pathogenic contribution of the gut-liver axis to disease progression.
Massimo A. Iavarone is a hepatologist in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Maggiore, Hospital of Milan, Italy. His main expertise and research interest is about the systemic treatments of hepatocellular carcinoma. He is a steering committee member and a member of the Drugs Commission of the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (IASL) Special Interest Group on hepatocellular carcinoma.
Gwilym Webb is a hepatologist based at the Cambridge Liver Unit, UK. He trained in Oxford, Cambridge and Birmingham, UK and completed his PhD in liver immunology. Dr Webb’s research interests focus on autoimmune liver disease and liver transplantation and he co-founded the COVID-Hep.net project to investigate outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with liver disease.
