Dear colleagues,

Since 2005, a biannual international symposium on coagulation and liver diseases has been organised and held. This meeting has aimed to help us better understand the pathogenesis and significance of haemostatic alterations in patients with liver disease, and to achieve a more rational approach to prevention and management of bleeding and thrombosis in these patients. Initially hosted by the University of Virginia, VA, USA, the symposium was organised by multiple different groups in Europe and the United States. It is our pleasure to now announce a 2021 EASL monothematic conference, Bleeding, Thrombosis, and Vascular Liver Diseases that will replace the 2021 meeting organised by the Coagulation In Liver Disease group.

This EASL monothematic conference will outline recent developments in the field of prevention and treatment of bleeding and thrombosis in patients with liver disease and will discuss developments in the field of vascular liver diseases. Specifically, we will discuss haemostatic management during invasive procedures and will outline expert advice given in recent guidance documents from EASL and AASLD. Developments in knowledge on pathogenesis and treatment of portal vein thrombosis is on the agenda, which will again be connected to recent guidance documents. We will discuss recent development in vascular liver diseases and will have a session with "hot topics" in haemostasis in liver disease.

Although we have made tremendous progress in the field of bleeding and thrombosis in patients with advanced liver diseases and in the field of vascular liver diseases, well-designed randomised controlled trials are largely lacking. We will therefore discuss next steps in clinical research and encourage our attendees to submit proposals for clinical studies. The best proposals will be discussed during the meeting, with the aim to establish collaborations to fund and execute such clinical studies. Finally, we will highlight the role of patients, nurses, and (European) reference networks in the progress made in this field.

We sincerely hope we’ll be able to physically get together in Geneva for this meeting, not only to exchange recent scientific developments, but also to catch up after a long time of virtual-only contact. We encourage physicians from various clinical specialties that deal with haemostatic management of patients with liver diseases and basic researchers interested in pathogenesis of haemostatic alterations in liver diseases to join this EASL monothematic conference. We look forward to meeting you in Geneva and hope you share our excitement about the programme.

Virginia HERNÁNDEZ-GEA
Ton LISMAN
Pierre-Emmanuel RAUTOU
Erica VILLA