Hepatology Update March 27, 2009

This one day CME event first started in 1999. It has since become a popular way for local physicians to keep up to date on new developments in Hepatology. It was chaired by Dr. Jenny Heathcote from 1999-2004 and by Dr. David Wong from 2005-present. A copy of each presentation is available online as pdf files - just a click away. The schedule for 2009 was as follows:

• W Ray Kim: Natural history of hepatitis B: What is still unknown and what can we study
• Scott Fung: HBV treatment: Factors predicting initial and long term response
• Les Lilly: Immunosuppression and its effects on hepatitis B
• David Wong & Maha Guindi: Session 1 Cases
• Gideon Hirschfield: Cholestatic liver diseases: Approach and management
• Florence Wong: Management of ascites not responsive to initial therapy
• Victoria Ng: Wilson Disease: The diagnostic conundrum
• George Therapondos & Oyedele Adeyi: Session 2 Cases
• Jordan Feld: Hepatitis C viral kinetics, influence on treatment
• Sanjeev Sockalingam: Psychiatric issues in liver disease: How interferon helps
• David Wong: How to get your Section 16 (EAP) approved
• Morris Sherman & Sandra Fisher: Session 3 Cases

Sheila Sherlock Research Day March 26, 2009

In 1986, Dame Sheila Sherlock came to Toronto to visit one of her former trainees, Dr. Jenny Heathcote. To celebrate the occasion, Toronto trainees were encouraged to present updates on their research projects. The Sheila Sherlock Research Day has been an annual celebration of local liver research since 1986. It is chaired by Dr. Les Lilly. Dr. Lilly and a visiting professor award prizes to the two outstanding presenters each year. For 2009, the visiting professor was Dr. W Ray Kim from the Mayo clinic. The winning presentations were:

• Aviva Leber (Supervisor: Morris Sherman): Estimation of chronic hepatitis B carrier rates and prediction of future hepatocellular carcinoma
• The true prevalence of chronic hepatitis B in Canada is much higher than previously predicted: almost 2% in Canada, higher in Ontario and BC where it is over 2%, and likely much higher in the metropolitan areas of Toronto and Vancouver
• Venessa Pattullo (Supervisor: Jenny Heathcote): Sustained virological response (SVR) to pegylated interferon and ribavirin has no effect on neurocognition and cerebral metabolite levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Other presentations from 2009

• Rania Rabie (Supervisor: Florence Wong): The cardiopulmonary effects of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) in patients with cirrhosis treated for refractory ascites
• Maha Guindi: Remote real time reporting of urgent biopsies: Whole slide imaging is feasible in a quaternary care academic center
• Alallam Alallam (Supervisor: Jenny Heathcote): HBsAg loss in chronic hepatitis B infected patients treated with peg-interferon
• Nitin Sarin (Supervisor: David Wong): Tenofovir is effective salvage therapy for nucleoside-resistant hepatitis B
• Teru Kumagi (Supervisor: Jenny Heathcote): A multi-national survey of adult survivors of the kasai procedure: Clinical features and outcomes in adult hepatological practice
• Wendong Chen (Supervisor: Murray Krahn): Population-derived estimates of direct medical costs among late-stage hepatitis C patients with diabetes
• Limin Chen (Supervisor: Ian McGilvray): Cell-type specific gene expression and signature in liver underlies response to interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis C infection
• Sean Pritchett (Supervisor: Nezam Afdhal): The optimal cutoff for predicting large esophageal varices using transient elastography is disease specific
• N Selzner (Supervisor: Gary Levy): Levels of FGL2/Fibronectin, an effector of CD4+CD25+ Treg cells, predict course of chronic hepatitis C disease
• Wendong Chen (Supervisor: Jenny Heathcote): High risk of hepatocellular carcinoma associated with immigrant patients with advanced fibrosis and hepatitis C infection from a tertiary referral clinic in Toronto, Canada
• A Smith (Supervisor: George Therapondos): Recurrence of primary sclerosing cholangitis following deceased and living donor liver transplantation
• Markus Selzner (Supervisor: Gary Levy): Binding of FGL2/Fibroleukin to the FcγRII receptor induces sinusoidal endothelial cell death after hepatic ischemia and reperfusion in mice - A novel pathway of injury
• Justina Sam (Supervisor: Hemant Shah): Management of hepatitis B patients by family medicine trainees in Canada: Results of a nationwide survey
• Paul James (Supervisor: Florence Wong): Circulatory dysfunction after large volume paracentesis in cirrhosis with ascites
• Eric Lee (Supervisor: Gideon Hirschfield): IgG4-associated autoimmune pancreatitis/sclerosing cholangitis (AIP/SC), a steroid-responsive multi-system disease
• Nadya Al-Harthy (Supervisor: Gideon Hirschfield): Primary biliary cirrhosis and fatigue: A specific complaint?

Visiting Professors

• 2009 W. Ray Kim
• 2008 Kyong-Mi Chang
• 2007 Anna Mae Diehl
• 2006 Chris Day
• 2005 Anna Lok
• 2004 Elwyn Elias
• 2003 Andreas Blei
• 2002 N.M. Bass
• 2001 David Adams
• 2000 Bruce Bacon
• 1999 Thomas Boyer
• 1998 T. Jake Liang
• 1997 Michel Huet
• 1996 Teresa Wright
• 1995 Irwin Arias
• 1994 M. James Phillips
• 1993 Frank Chisari
• 1992 Bruce Scharschmidt
• 1991 John Gollan
• 1990 David Van Thiel
• 1989 Anthony Tavill
• 1988 Howard Thomas
• 1987 E.A. Jones
• 1986 Dame Sheila Sherlock