History
The history of the International Ascites Club
The International Ascites Club was founded in Florence, Italy on November 30, 1990 during an international liver meeting organized by Professor Paolo Gentilini. The reason to found a club of experts in this complication of portal hypertension originated from the peculiarity of the expertise doctors who treat patients with ascites must have. They are experts in hepatology as well as in kidney physiology, hemodynamics, electrolyte disorders, infections, cardiopulmonary function and “transplant medicine”. The founders drew up few simple rules. The main purposes of the club were to organize biannual meetings on ascites and related issues, to stimulate the research in ascites, to improve terminology, to define the pathological events related to ascites, and to produce standard rules for high quality clinical trials.
During its 16-year history, the Club organized 9 meetings on different issues. This led to 5 publications reporting the results (2 appeared in Hepatology, two in Journal of Hepatology and 1 in Gut). These papers allowed for better definition of different phenomena (i.e. refractory ascites, hepatorenal syndrome, bacterial peritonitis, hyponatremia).
- Wien, September 1992: Pathophysiology of ascites. Diagnosis and treatment of ascites.
- Chicago, November 1994: Endothelium-derived vasoactive substances and liver disease. Definition of refractory ascites and hepatorenal syndrome.
- Geneva, August 1996: Water retention in cirrhosis. Pathophysiology and treatment.
- Lisboa, April 1998: Treatment and prevention of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhosis.
- Dallas, November 1999: Treatment of ascites.
- Prague, April 2001: Hepatorenal syndrome.
- Boston, November 2002: Sepsis in cirrhosis.
- Berlin, April 2004: Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and its potential role in the hemodynamic and sodium handling abnormalities of cirrhosis.
- San Francisco, November 2005: Focused Study Group on diagnosis and treatment of hepatorenal syndrome.