7^th International Conference on Hepatology July 15-16, 2019 Sydney, Australia

Liver is responsible for many critical functions within the body. It helps your body digest food, store energy, and remove poisons. If it becomes diseased or injured, the loss of those functions can cause significant damage to the body. There are over 100 different forms of liver disease that affect men, women and children. These diseases include cirrhosis, alcohol abuse, hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E, Epstein Barr virus (infectious mononucleosis), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and iron overload (hemochromatosis). The main symptoms of liver imbalance include weakness and fatigue, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, and yellow discoloration of the skin (jaundice).

Hepatitis C is a devastating viral disease that generally progresses slowly, meaning patients often remain asymptomatic and unaware they are infected until very serious and often expensive complications emerge as a result of damage to the liver. It is estimated that about half of those infected are not aware that they carry the virus. The recent remarkable advances in treating hepatitis C built on incremental improvements achieved over the previous two decades to transform hepatitis C from a chronic, fatal disease, to an infection that with new and forthcoming treatments, can be potentially cured.

Non-viral hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by toxins, drugs, or other harmful chemicals that destroy cells in the liver (Hepatocytes).  Acute hepatitis damages hepatocytes make up 70-85% of the total mass of the liver. The disease is a growing problem due to the increasing number of dietary supplements with liver side effects. If hepatitis leads to liver failure, a liver transplant is the only treatment option that can improve survival.

Overall, about one-third of people with HIV also have hepatitis C. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be transmitted in some of the same ways as HIV and hepatitis B. HIV can worsen hepatitis C. HIV not only increase the risk of liver damage, but it can also speed up the onset of liver damage following infection. People who are coinfected with HIV and HCV should work closely with health care providers in order to monitor and treat both conditions.

Liver transplantation is a surgery to remove the diseased or injured liver and replace it with a whole new healthy liver or a segment of the liver from another/healthy person, who is called as a donor. People with acute or chronic liver failure undergo a liver transplant to survive.

Several disorders contribute to liver disease in pregnancy such as acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) and intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (IHCP), hyperemesis gravidarum and hemolysis and elevated liver enzymes and low platelets (HELLP) syndrome. Liver disease such as acute viral hepatitis can occur in pregnancy and pregnancy may occur in a patient with underlying chronic liver disease including patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension, and patients who have undergone liver transplantation.

The best way to prevent hepatitis is by getting the hepatitis vaccines. Vaccination is safe and effective and it is recommended for all. Efforts to develop a hepatitis C vaccine started more than 20 years ago, when the hepatitis C virus was identified. The hepatitis C virus is more variable than are the viruses that cause hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Hepatitis C virus occurs in at least six genetically distinct forms with 50 subtypes. A global vaccine would have to protect against all these variants of the virus.

Screening for Liver diseases has been advocated with the intention of intervening to halt its progression. Abnormal liver tests are those that measure synthesis of proteins made by the liver (albumin, clotting factors) or the liver's capacity to metabolize drugs. The impact of diagnosis of hepatitis C virus on quality of life is worse in patients aware of their viral status compared with individuals unaware of their viral status.

The use of herbal products as medications has its origin thousands of years ago. In Western countries, herbal medicine products are gaining increasing popularity. Some herbal products may potentially benefit people with liver disease.

Liver inflammation is a response that happens when liver cells are assaulted by a disease causing microbe or substance. These functions include producing bile to separate sustenance into vitality; making basic substances, for example, hormones; cleaning poisons from the blood, including those from solution, liquor and medicates; and controlling fat stockpiling and cholesterol creation and discharge. Liver immunology implies the special connection between the liver and immune system.

Liver cancer is also known as a hepatic cancer or which originates in the liver. Liver tumors have been discovered on medical imaging equipment (often by accident) symptomatically as an abdominal mass, abdominal pain, yellow skin and liver dysfunction. The leading cause of the liver cancer is cirrhosis which is caused due to either hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or alcohol.

The pancreas is a glandular organ in the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates secreting pancreatic juice containing bicarbonate to neutralize acidity of chyme moving in from the stomach, as well as digestive enzymes that assist digestion and absorption of nutrients in the small intestine. These enzymes help to further break down the carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in the chyme. The pancreas is known as a mixed gland. In humans, it is located in the abdominal cavity behind the stomach. It is an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide, all of which circulate in the blood.

Gastroenterology is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. Diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract, which include the organs from mouth into anus, along the alimentary canal, are the focus of this speciality.

Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). HBV is transmitted through activities that involve percutaneous or mucosal contact with infectious blood or body fluids. HBV can survive outside the body at least 7 days and still be capable of causing infection. The best way to prevent hepatitis B is by getting the hepatitis B vaccine. The pathogenesis and clinical manifestations of hepatitis B are due to the interaction of the virus and the host immune system, which lead to liver injury and potentially cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients can have either an acute symptomatic disease or an asymptomatic disease.