16th Annual Meeting of PSSLD 2022

Karachi: The Pakistan Society for the Study of Liver Diseases (PSSLD) orchestrated its 16th Annual Meeting in the Movenpick Hotel, Karachi, starting from December 2nd to December 4th, 2022. For this annual meeting, “Emerging Trends in Hepatology: Challenges and Opportunities” was selected as the theme. To attend this meeting international and local remarkable stars gathered in Karachi. The three-day conference was organized in a hybrid model, linking all the web-based and on-site physical symposiums.
However, it was still made possible by the organizers to air and share the conference through Zoom and Facebook. All of this was possible with the help of PSSLD App with a special portion for the conference. The feasible weather and climatic conditions also helped in the success of the conference. Gladly the restrictions which were imposed and followed because of the immense spread of Covid-19 were lenient as well, and the national and international researchers were freely able to come together under one roof and share their perspectives and somehow explore the region too.
The basic aim was to bring the leading international and national researchers and experts who are actively working as hepatologists. The international scholars tried to relate their research work to the current health stance of Pakistan. National researchers also actively participated in presenting their publications and research work, although it can be noticed that the young individuals were given the preference too.
A three-day conference was held to highlight the opportunities available as well as the challenges faced by the researchers, hepatologists, and doctors. While also discussing the upcoming and newly adopted medical trends and how they can be helpful in Pakistan while tackling the upgraded forms of liver diseases.
Day 1

The conference embarked on with the symposiums highlighting the regional achievements in coping with the hepatitis disease, and how the epitome of new consulting and research methods were applied to manage and tackle the common liver problems. During the first symposium of the day the speakers put forward and talked about “Endo-Hepatology: A New Paradigm”. While commencing the symposium Amjad Salamat chose to talk about “EUS-guided diagnostic hepatic procedures”, followed by an Egyptian researcher who enlighten the listeners with “EUS guided Hemostasis. Later Mostafa Arain and Ghias Un Nabi Tayyab discussed and analyzed the “Endoscopic management of biliary complications” and “EUS guided biliary decompression: A local experience” respectively.
The second symposium emphasized “managing common liver issues”. All national participants of this symposium put forth ideas on how to tackle the uncomplicated cases of NAFLD (Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) and hepatitis B, C, and D. While the first PSSLD studio symposium further continue to explicate the ongoing and expected progress in its attempt to fight against and eliminate hepatitis C, this symposium was presented by Human Qureshi, Zaigham Abbas from Pakistan and Homie Razavi from America.
Moving on to the next symposium after the lunch break, the professor speakers focused on the critical and researchable medical cases they had tackled during their professional experience. The speakers of this symposium included Necati Omreci from Turkey, Mohammad Alborate from India, along with four other national doctors and surgeons. The last symposium of day one was regarding the “HBV elimination in Pakistan”, in this symposium Homie Razavi, Robert Gish, Bilal Hameed from America and Amna Subhan, and Saeed Hamid joined from Pakistan.
Inaugural Ceremony
Day 2

Day two of the conference commenced with the research paper presentations and e-paper presentations by an ample number of participants. The sixth symposium of the three-day conference was abiding by to follow the sub-topic of “emerging concepts in hepatitis B and D”. This symposium was carried away by Cihan Yurdaydin from Turkey, Norah Terrault and Robert Gish from America, and Altaf Alam from Pakistan. The speakers mostly focused on the discussion, implying the managed and improved methods to cure hepatitis B. Moving on to the next symposium after a tea break Nancy S Reau, Bilal Hameed and Rajender Reddy joined in from America while Ammara Naveed represented Pakistan. This symposium took “Hepatitis C” into account to further explain its treatment, the expected and unexpected consequences of it, and the difficulties faced by the patients and the doctors while treating HCV.
After the lunch break a PSSLD steering committee meeting was held, however later on the conference symposiums proceeded. The eighth symposium included the point of view of “Portal Hypertension and Vascular Diseases” in the discussion. The individuals who discussed this side of the research were Anil Aroro from India, Ibrahim Mostafa from Egypt, Rajender Reddy from America, and Nasir Luck from Pakistan. While nearing the end of day two, the ninth symposium raised the chaotic issue of “Complications in managing Cirrhosis”. These symposiums provided an opportunity for Necati Ormeci from Turkey who explained “stages of cirrhosis and how to prevent decompensation”, Nadeem Tehami from the United Kingdom, Qin Ning from China, Anjum Gardezi from the United Kingdom and Ashfaq Ahmed from Pakistan, to share their research and knowledge regarding the topic. The speaker for the second PSSLD studio of the annual meeting was Yogesh Chawla who enlighten the listeners with the research on “Emerging trends in the management of Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF). The last hour of the day was dedicated to a PSSLD quiz competition.
Day 3

Following the pattern of the symposium, Day three of the conference also started with research paper presentations by an ample number of participants. The eleventh symposium focused on “NAFLD” (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease). In this session, the audience was joined by Ajay Duseja from India, Arun Sanyal, and Zobair Younossi from the United States of America. They talked about the process by which the disease flourishes and how possibly it might be treated. The next symposium focused on “post-transplant management”. This session was carried on by Abdul Wahab Dogar, Osama Tariq from Pakistan, Khalid Mumtaz, and Syed Shareef from the United States of America. The outcome of LDLT and the effect of treatment were discussed by this panel. The third PSSLD studio session talked about the “multidisciplinary team approach in the management of HCC”, elaborating on the discourse of early detection of HCC, current perspectives, and “the new algorithm for systemic and immunotherapy.
The thirteenth and last symposium was about “potpourri”. Muhammad Akram, Farhana Kayani, and Shahab Abid, remain the leading speakers to discuss and update on autoimmune hepatitis and the updates of PBC and PSC. Mudassri Laeeq concluded the day with an elaborate discussion on pain management in chronic liver diseases. The closing ceremony took place after the Q/A session and the awards and certificates were distributed between the respected participants before lunch.
Award Winners

1st Prize
PKR 75,000
Sana M. Hussain
2nd Prize
PKR 50,000
Mahrukh Ali
3rd Prize
PKR 50,000
Saman Shahid

1st Prize
PKR 75,000
Imran Ali Syed
PKR 75,000
Sulhera Khan
2nd Prize
PKR 50,000
Badar Hina Afnan
PKR 50,000
Imdad Ali, Danish Kumar
3rd Prize
PKR 50,000
Falak Naz
PKR 50,000
Hina Hafiz

Team DUHS (Dow University of health sciences) Karachi
Shazia Siddiqi
Ammara Majeed
Team HMS (Hayatabad Medical Complex) Peshawar
Muhammad Qasim
Fazal Wahab
Team Shifa International Hospital Islamabad
Talia Azad
Khalid Zeb

Shifa International Hospital Islamabad
SIUT
AKUH
LNH
Organizers
Advisory Committee: Masood Siddiq, Saeed Sadiq Hamid, Amjad Salamat
Chair Scientific Committee: Zaigham Abbas
Chair Organizing Committee: Amna Subhan Butt

Tassawar Hussain, Altaf Baqir Naqvi, Sharbat Khan, Fakhar Ali Qazi Arisar, Shahid Rasool, Adil Naseer Khan, Shamail Zafar, Junaid Saleem, Qazi Masroor Ali, Bakht Biland, Saleh M. Channa, Faisal Waseem Ismail, Abdul Basit Siddiqui, Mian Shah Yousaf, M. Atif Majeed, Faisal Aslam, Manzoor Husain, Masood Karim, Zahid Azam
Scientific Committee Sadik Memon, Mohammad Salih, Mohammad Kamran, Farhana Kayani
