International Liver Symposium: Shaping the future of liver diseases, transplantation
IMT News Desk
In continuation of its commitment to bringing world-class healthcare to all, the Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine organised the 4th International Liver Symposium (ILS) at The Leela Ambience, Gurugram. The event saw participation from experts from across the world, representing the frontiers of knowledge from 22 countries. Experts shared perspectives and new learning on Hepatology, Liver Surgery and Transplantation, deliberating on practice and direction of liver diseases and transplantation.
The three-day symposium based on the theme of "Debates in Liver Diseases and Transplantation" offered a unique academic platform comprising the world’s leading experts and key opinion leaders like Dr. Patrizia Burra (Associate Professor of Gastroenterology, MD, PhD, University Hospital of Padova-Italy), Dr. David GRANT MD, FRCSC (Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto), Prof Anil Dhawan MD FRCPCH (Kings College Hospital, London, UK) and Prof Nigel Heaton (Head of Liver Transplantation at King’s College Hospital NHSFT) along with renowned experts from Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, Medanta – The Medicity, including Dr. AS Soin (Chairman and Chief Surgeon), Dr Neelam Mohan (Director, Pediatric Liver Transplant), Dr. S Saigal (Director, Hepatology) and Dr N Saraf (Director, Hepatology).
Incidentally, 30% of the Indian adult population has fatty liver. Liver cancer is the second largest cancer killer in India. Cutting-edge treatment options and surgeries specific to these issues were presented in the symposium. Other than lifestyle changes, liver experts discussed the encouraging preliminary results with a new class of drugs - the FXR agonists - that can now reverse fatty liver. Results with new drug Lenvatinib for advanced liver cancer were also presented. Dr. AS Soin elaborated on Medanta’s globally acknowledged protocol, which now enables successful cure of advanced stage 4 liver cancer by combining cyberknife and TARE, followed by transplant. He also spoke about the role of machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence in donor–recipient matching, and outcome after liver transplantation.
The group of experts additionally deliberated on alternative approaches to managing and treating Hepatitis, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure (ACLF), Alcoholic Liver Disease, Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), Hepatic Surgery and Critical Care in adults and children.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr AS Soin said, “The International Liver Symposium is a convergence of the leading minds, techniques, and innovations for Gastroenterologists, Hepatologists, Liver Surgeons, Anaesthetists, Intensivists, Paediatricians, Interventional Radiologists and Researchers, globally. The incidence of liver disease has risen and liver medicine and surgery have seen phenomenal rise over the last decade. At the Medanta Liver Transplant Institute, we run the world’s second largest living donor liver transplant program, performing more than 250 transplants annually. Our team has an experience of almost 2800 liver transplants. ILS reflects our commitment to the currency of knowledge and harnessing it to deliver the best globally benchmarked treatments”.
An important highlight of the symposium was a cultural program in which people who had undergone liver transplant 10-15 years ago, expressed gratitude to their donors through an emotional, musical medley.
