EASL’s Clinical Practice Guidelines assist physicians, healthcare providers, patients and other interested parties in the clinical decision-making process. The EASL Guidelines present a range of state-of-the-art approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases.
Recommendations are based on a systematic literature review in the Medline (PubMed version), Embase (Dialog version), and the Cochrane Library databases using entries from 1966 to 2011. The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system used in other EASL CPGs was used and set against the somewhat different grading system used in the…
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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. The long-term hepatic impact of HCV infection is highly variable, from minimal changes to chronic hepatitis, extensive fibrosis, and cirrhosis with or without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The number of chronically infected persons worldwide may exceed 200 million, but most…
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EASL has published clinical practice guidelines for the management of ascites, the most common complication of cirrhosis. The peer-reviewed guidelines are available in the September 2010 issue, (Volume 53, No.3) of the Journal of Hepatology and online CPGs. They will also provide recommendations for the management of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) and hepatorenal syndrome, which…
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EASL is pleased to announce the publication of its 3rd Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of HFE Hemochromatosis (HFE-HC). 1 in 200 people in northern Europe are affected by hemochromatosis, a highly prevalent but somewhat overlooked disease due to its lack of symptoms and difficult diagnosis, making it one of the most common inheritable…
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In October 2008, EASL proudly published its first CPG on the Management of Chronic Hepatitis B. Eight months later, new subject matter was published in the same series of Clinical Practice Guidelines; this time on the Management of Cholestatic Liver Diseases.
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Gallstones or cholelithiasis are a major public health problem in Europe and other developed countries and affect up to 20% of the population. Gallstone disease is the most common gastrointestinal disorder for which patients are admitted to hospitals in European countries. The interdisciplinary care for patients with gallstone disease has advanced considerably during recent decades…
Read MoreThe first EASL Clinical Practice Guideline on treatment of hepatitis C was published in 1999. Since then, more than 30 EASL Guidelines on various liver diseases have been published. The EASL CPGs are extremely popular in Europe and beyond. Most importantly, they are a global reference for the current state-of-the-art on diagnosis and management of liver diseases. As consequence, the EASL Guidelines have been widely distributed. And not only by open-access publication in the Journal of Hepatology but also on the EASL website. Finally, for some EASL CPGs, dissemination of knowledge into derivatives of the guidelines (e.g. patient versions).
The Success of the EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines
One possible reason for the success of our guidelines is the streamlined process. This has allowed for a fast response and timely publication of clinical recommendations when there are new developments in a field. This was especially relevant for chronic HCV infection. The rapid development of treatment regimens has prompted the EASL Governing Board to commission regular updates of ‘‘HCV treatment recommendations”on an almost yearly basis since 2014. In 2019, EASL launched The first guideline for hepatitis B. Updated versions for the EASL guidelines for Hepatitis B followed in 2012 and 2017.
EASL acknowledgements
This responsive process of CPG development in almost all areas of hepatology has only been made possible by the commitment of a small team of 5–8 world-leading experts (the ‘‘CPG panel”) and the meticulous evaluation of the CPGs by three independent experts (at least one from outside Europe), as well as the EASL Governing Board. EASL is very grateful for the continuous and outstanding support provided by these experts from our community.