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Dr. Jan Rothuizen, Co-ordinator of the WSAVA Liver Standardisation Group, has reported that the two meetings held in 2002, were a great success. Now vascular and biliary diseases of the liver have been discussed and agreement on their histopathological definition achieved.

In 2001, the Group had discussed standards for the histological interpretation and nomenclature of hepatic vascular diseases. In June 2002, the Group’s consensus on these was presented to the Special Interest Group (SIG) for Liver Diseases in the USA by Dr. John Cullen (USA), during the ACVIM Forum in Dallas. After discussion the proposed standards were accepted. Dr. Rothuizen said that the discussion was so positive that the American SIG has invited WSAVA Group members, Dr. Cullen and Dr. Ted van den Ingh (The Netherlands), to speak at the 2003 ACVIM Forum on vascular diseases and biliary diseases. This will allow the standards will become generally known. The same will occur at the 2003 ECVIM Congress in Europe, so that both Americans and Europeans will be fully updated.

In Dallas the WSAVA Group also met around the discussion microscope of the pathology service in the hospital where the late President Kennedy spent his last minutes. On this historical ground they discussed the biliary diseases of cats, the intra- and extrahepatic bile tree diseases of dogs, and a start was made with the cystic lesions.

A second meeting was held in September 2002, during the ECVIM Congress in Munich. Here the group was kindly hosted by Professor Hirschberger and his staff in the laboratory for Clinical Pathology of the Veterinary School, and the Group discussed standards and definitions for the large group of feline and canine biliary diseases. Subsequently Dr. Jenny Charles (Australia) presented the consensus on feline biliary diseases to the Hepatology session of the European Society of Comparative Gastroenterology, in the scientific program of the Congress. Dr. van den Ingh covered the canine biliary disorders. Again, the reactions of the congress delegates were unanimously positive and supportive.

Also in Munich, discussions were completed on the cystic lesions of the liver and bile system, and of the primary liver and biliary tumours. The preliminary consensus will be presented for discussion at the informal evening meeting of the American SIG for liver diseases during the 2003 ACVIM Forum.

Now that all these diseases have been reviewed and characterised, Dr. Rothuizen said that the last big group of diseases will be the parenchymal diseases, which includes the different forms of hepatitis. This is complex group and requires a very careful description and standardisation, because there is much confusion in the literature and amongst clinicians and pathologists about these diseases. Two more meetings are planned to allow for a consensus to be reached on these.

The WSAVA Group is concerned that the results of all its deliberations should be generally accessible to all those who are interested. To achieve this, the detailed consensus criteria with histological figures to illustrate typical examples will be published in the electronic scientific journal, Comparative Hepatology. Five publications are foreseen in the coming two years. A monograph is also planned for production after the Group’s work is completed and published, possibly accompanied by a CD-Rom containing all the colour slides of the histology.

Dr. Rothuizen expressed the WSAVA Group’s gratitude to two people who have been crucial to its work. He acknowledged the vision of Dr. Claudio Brovida (Italy), President of the WSAVA until October 2002, in implementing this effort, which will set the stage for more world-wide professional cooperation. He also thanked Group member Professor Valeer Desmet from the Medical School of Leuven, Belgium. Professor Desmet has been involved in human liver standardisations for more than 30 years, and is one of the co-founders of modern human liver pathology. The presence of such a great expert in our group, Dr. Rothuizen said, is crucially stimulating. When the veterinarians cannot reach agreement it is always the expert in human pathology who helps to find the way out! We as veterinarians cannot overestimate the value of his contribution.

"The WSAVA gratefully acknowledges the enthusiastic support of Hills Pet Nutrition, Inc. in sponsoring the efforts of the Liver Standardization Group."