Grammatikopoulos T.: Portal Hypertension – What Does Baveno Mean for Children?

Welcome back, ESPGHAN podcast listeners! Today’s discussant is Dr Tassos Grammatikopoulos, of King’s College Hospital in London, and today’s theme is portal hypertension in children, an academic interest of Dr G. Tassos, Dr Grammatikopoulos, would you please oblige me at the appropriate moment with a rimshot? I’ll cue you. Gastroenterologists and hepatologists interested in portal hypertension have, since 1990, held occasional meetings in Baveno, a lakeside town that lies in northern Italy, at the southern foot of the Simplon Pass, in the Piedmont. From 1799 to 1800 it was Austrian... but, as usual, given the geography of the Piedmont, things went downhill— Dr Grammatikopoulos, that’s your cue! Went downhill, geddit?— and the town has ever since been more or less Italian, with French interludes. The German-speaking now are, I understand, welcome again. What is done at Baveno by the members of the international group of portal-hypertension enthusiasts who constitute the "Baveno Coöperation"? How do their opinions shape care clinically and in research settings? What rôle do Baveno meetings play in shaping paediatric work? How do ESPGHAN and the Coöperation, well, uhm, coöperate? As background, Dr Grammatikopoulos has provided references to several reports of recommendations issued from Baveno, titled Portal hypertension in children: Expert pediatric opinion on the report of the Baveno V consensus workshop on methodology of diagnosis and therapy in portal hypertension; Primary prophylaxis of variceal bleeding in children and the role of mesorex bypass: Summary of the Baveno VI pediatric satellite symposium; and Baveno VII – renewing consensus in portal hypertension, with an erratum. (A précis of this podcast that contains full bibliographic details is available at the ESPGHAN website.) But those are background, and Dr Grammatikopoulos is foreground. He can tell us what Baveno and its guidelines are all about.Literaturede Franchis R et al. Baveno VII – renewing consensus in portal hypertension. J Hepatol. 2022 Apr;76(4):959–974. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2021.12.022. Epub 2021 Dec 30. PMID: 35120736. PMCID: 11090185. Erratum: J Hepatol. 2022 Jul;77(1):271. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2022.03.024. Epub 2022 Apr 14. PMID: 35431106. Shneider BL et al. Portal hypertension in children: Expert pediatric opinion on the report of the Baveno V consensus workshop on methodology of diagnosis and therapy in portal hypertension. Pediatr Transplant. 2012 Aug;16(5):426–437. DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-3046.2012.01652.x. Epub 2012 Mar 13. PMID: 22409296. Shneider BL et al. Primary prophylaxis of variceal bleeding in children and the role of mesorex bypass: Summary of the Baveno VI pediatric satellite symposium. Hepatology. 2016 Apr;63(4):1368–1380. DOI: 10.1002/hep.28153. Epub 2015 Oct 23. PMID: 26358549. Dr. Grammatikopoulos favourite song: Ena To Helidoni - Grigoris Bithikotsis ESPGHAN favourite Songs can be found on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0YIHKjxITLEm9XNyHyypTo