Multidisciplinary cooperation highlighted in the management of liver diseases

Medical experts have emphasized the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation in the management of liver diseases and the advancement toward the goal of eliminating hepatitis B by 2030 at a recent academic conference.

Wei Lai, president of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver and head of the hepato-pancreato-biliary center at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, said that China has successfully reduced new hepatitis B infections — the most common viral hepatitis. In 2016, the positivity rate of hepatitis B surface antigen among the general population was estimated to be around 6.1 percent.

Despite this progress, there are still about eight million people living with chronic hepatitis B in China who are at a higher risk of developing liver cancer and require multidisciplinary treatment in the fields such as hepatology, oncology, organ transplantation, and more.