title: Management of hepatitis C; Report of the Consensus Meeting at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Hepatology (2009).
abstract: The consensus meeting for the diagnosis, management and treatment for hepatitis C was held in 45(th) annual meeting for the Japan Society of Hepatology (JSH) in June 2009 where the recommendations and informative statements were discussed including organizers and presenters. The Several important informative statements and recommendations have been shown. This was the fourth JSH consensus meeting of hepatitis C, however, the recommendations have not been published in English previously. Thus, this is the first report of JSH consensus of hepatitis C. The rate of development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in HCV-infected patients in Japan is higher than in the USA, because the average age of the HCV-infected patients is greater and there are more patients with severe fibrosis of the liver than in the USA. In Japan, more than 60% of HCV-infected patients are genotype 1b infection, and they show lower response to perinterferon and ribavirin combination treatment. To improve the response rate is also an important issue in our country. To establish the original recommendations and informative statements to prevent the development of HCC is a very important issue in Japan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Musashino Red Cross Hospital, Musashinoshi, Tokyo.
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Namiki
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hino
authors.forename: Fumitaka
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumada
authors.forename: Yoshihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Yusuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Asahina
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tamori
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hiramatsu
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudo