On January 6th, 2022, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Vietnam Joint Stock Company and Ho Chi Minh City Association for The study of Liver disease (HASLD) organized an expert meeting with the theme “Diagnosis and treatment of hepatic encephalopathy”. The chairman was A/Prof. Bui Huu Hoang MD. PhD – Vice President of HASLD. The meeting included two parts: scientific presentation section and a discussion section with many experts from Bach Mai Hospital, 103 Hospital, 108 Hospital, Hue Central Hospital, Nhan Dan Gia Dinh Hospital, Can Tho Central Hospital etc.
Chairman, Speaker and Otsuka representative at the program
In the opening speech, Mr. Hashimoto Daisuke – General Director of Otsuka Vietnam JSC expressed the honor to accompany with HASLD and hoped that the meeting would bring valuable values for physicians.
According to A/Prof. Bui Huu Hoang MD. PhD, liver cirrhosis is increasing and leading to many adverse complications including hepatic encephalopathy (HE). In fact, there is currently no gold standard for diagnosing HE. Without early detection, the patient will progress seriously and fall into a coma – possibly lead to death. Therefore, the discussion section focused on diagnosing HE early in order to prevent and treat effectively.
At the meeting, Ho Tan Phat MD. SL2 – Head of Department of Gastroenterology – Cho Ray Hospital presented the topic “Diagnosis & treatment of hepatic encephalopathy”, providing valuable information on epidemiology, classification, and treatment guidelines of HE in the world. Next, Tatsunori Hanai MD. PhD – Department of Gastroenterology & Internal medicine, Gifu University, Japan presented the topic “Prevention & treatment of hepatic encephalopathy, especially minimal hepatic encephalopathy in Japan”. This presentation focuses on minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) – the stage of HE without clinical manifestations. According to the study, the rate of overt hepatic encephalopathy was 19% in patients who had minimal hepatic encephalopathy while only 7% in patients without minimal hepatic encephalopathy. In addition, Dr. Tatsunori Hanai also shared some neuropsychological tests for detecting minimal hepatic encephalopathy in Japan, these tests may bring a lot of promise in the future when applied in Vietnam.During the discussion, ten experts also shared their experiences in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatic encephalopathy including MHE.
Discussion session with experts during the meeting
The meeting was successfully held and received many positive feedbacks from experts. After this meeting, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Vietnam will introduce the Vietnameseized software “NP-test” to healthcare professionals, which has been widely used in Japan to help diagnose HE. This software runs on iPad, so it can be applied at the hospital or at home and supporting early diagnosis of HE and improving treatment.