What is the Hepatitis Information Center?

Tatsuya Kanto

Director General

The Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology, The Hepatitis Information Center, Division of Liver Disease Research, National Center for Global Health and Medicine

The Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology was established in 2008 as a division of National Center for Global Health and Medicine, and as of May 2016 consists of four research departments, one research project and the Hepatitis Information Center.

The Hepatitis Information Center was established in 2008 to promote uniformity in hepatitis care and to further improve the medical standard nationwide. The Center collaborates with a total of 70 collaborative base hospitals for liver disease care (base hospitals) in 47 prefectures throughout Japan. The Center is in charge of accomplishing three important missions: (1) providing information on hepatitis care, (2) supporting information sharing among base hospitals, and (3) training medical staff, coordinators, and counselors who are involved in hepatitis care. The Hepatitis Information Center Project and the Base Hospital Project have been reviewed since 2016, and the Hepatitis Information Center is expected to work closely with the base hospitals and strengthen the full network for liver disease care, and to make recommendations regarding hepatitis care based on the activities of the base hospitals.

Hepatitis C, which is the majority of chronic liver diseases, has made significant advances in treatment, and hepatitis C shifted from an "incurable disease" to a "curable disease." The universal health insurance system and the medical subsidy system for hepatitis treatment have made expensive drugs affordable, and the introduction of aggressive treatment is expected to further reduce deaths from liver cancer in the near future. However, not all liver disease treatments have been resolved, and treatment options for decompensated cirrhosis of any etiology are limited. An estimated 500,000 patients nationwide do not visit a hospital even after diagnosis of viral hepatitis, and since these patients are at high risk for liver cancer, active encouragement to visit a specialized medical hospital is first necessary. The Hepatitis Information Center will work together with base hospitals to further strengthen the path from hepatitis testing to hospital visits and treatment. The Division of Liver Disease Research of the Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology conducts basic and clinical research leading to the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases, and aims to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic methods by elucidating the pathogenesis and progression mechanisms of liver diseases such as viral hepatitis, steatohepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer. An important role of the Hepatitis Information Center is to bring research results from our research division and other facilities to the field of liver disease treatment.

We hope that the Hepatitis Information Center will be an open and reliable organization for all those involved in the treatment of liver diseases, and above all, for patients with liver diseases and their families.