International Liver and Gallbladder Forum Held in Shanghai

China is a country of high incidence of liver and gallbladder diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma, bile duct stones, bile duct cancer, liver cirrhosis, acute liver failure and so on, which have become serious threats to people's health. In recent years, the notions as well as treatment techniques for liver and gallbladder diseases have been continuously updated and developed, even the disease list has experienced a change and new and complicated problems emerged.

All of the above require undoubtedly more extensive and in-depth academic exchanges, in order to broaden people s horizons in these fields so as to reach a consensus to solve problems.

The International Liver and Gallbladder Forum, co-hosted by the Medical Health Academic Division of CAE, Shanghai Academician Center, Hepatobiliary Study Group of Chinese Society Of Grastroenterology (CSGE) and Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgical Hospital, was held in Shanghai on November 13, 2010. The forum invited around 260 experts specialized in hepatobiliary medicine and surgery from Canada, Japan and China to attend the international conference for academic exchanges in the forms of presentations and discussion sections as to the forefront, hot and difficult issues in this field.

CAE Member Wu Mengchao, also the Honorary Chairman of the Forum, together with CAE Member Yang Shengli and Wang Hongyang, delivered speeches in the opening ceremony and gave academic presentations on relevant topics.

To sum up, this forum provided an excellent platform for professional people in hepatobiliary medicine or surgery fields, introducing to them different perspectives and new notions, bringing in a wealth of information and leading to more thinking. In this way, the forum reached the objectives of innovating ideas, sharing experiences, reaching consensus and improving technology and helped further enhance the academic standards of hepatobiliary medicine and surgery in China, and its international status as well as influence. (By Wang Yang and Li Dongmei, photo by Zhou Bangxin, December 2010; translated by Liu Chang)