As the society coupled to Liver Transplantation, the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS) considers it important to recap and distribute the highlights of its annual meeting to the recipients of the journal. Thus, this report summarizes key symposia and oral abstracts delivered recently at the 16th ILTS Congress in Hong Kong. It is separated into clinical and surgical sections, and there are subheadings focusing on hot topics in the field of liver transplantation (LT). For each abstract, the full reference is reported in a supplemental issue of Liver Transplantation. 1
CLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION Viral Hepatitis
Two symposia at the meeting focused on viral hepatitis after LT. The posttransplant session of the opening symposium, which was entitled ''The Art of Surgery & Medicine in Liver Transplantation: Today & Tomorrow,'' began with a debate between Didier Samuel and John Lake on the pros and cons of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) therapy for the prevention of hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence. Both agreed that for low-risk patients (undetectable HBV DNA at transplant and fulminant hepatic failure), HBIG can be stopped at some point after transplantation and replaced by antiviral therapy with a high barrier to resistance. However, the optimal length of HBIG therapy and the specific antiviral regimen are yet to be defined in this population. Patrizia Burra then discussed the main factors leading to hepatitis C virus (HCV) recurrence [high-dose immunosuppression, donor age and steatosis, recipient age, and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score at transplant] and poor retransplant outcomes (lack of a response to posttransplant antiviral therapy and significant recurrence within 1 year). The avoidance of bolus corticosteroids or lymphodepletional therapy and the consideration of LT in younger donors and recipients are more likely to lead to favorable graft and patient outcomes.
A second symposium on viral hepatitis began with a presentation by Michael Charlton, who shared data on the association of the donor and recipient interleukin-28b (IL-28b) CC genotype with less fibrosis and a greater response to HCV therapy, consistent with recent pretransplant data. 2 This may have future