Practice Guidelines
AASLD’s practice guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations and outline appropriate methods of treatment and care for clinicians. The guidelines are developed by multidisciplinary panels of experts who rate the quality (level) of the evidence and strength of each recommendation using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system or, in some unique cases, Oxford Levels of Evidence Grading. Patient representation is an important component in the development of clinical practice guidelines and is a priority for inclusion in future guideline panels.
Historically, AASLD has developed practice guidances which are put forward to help clinicians understand and implement the most recent evidence based on comprehensive review and analysis of the literature. Recently AASLD has published guidances on aspects of a topic that lacked sufficient data to perform systematic reviews or rate the quality (level) of the evidence. While AASLD is committed to focusing on practice guidelines, the established practice guidances remain valid, essential resources for the hepatology community.
Additionally, AASLD develops quality measures to help its members measure or quantify healthcare processes and outcomes that are associated with the ability to provide high-quality health care.
Read more about AASLD’s historical policy for practice guidelines and guidances, learn about AASLD’s conflict of interest policy in an article excerpted from Hepatology, or review AASLD's Code for the Assessment and Management of Conflict of Interest.
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Evolution of Practice Guideline Development Process
AASLD recognizes that practice guidelines are an instrumental resource for the health care community to identify, diagnose, treat, and manage care of patients with liver disease. AASLD remains committed to developing rigorous, credible, and transparent Practice Guidelines. Our practice guideline program is currently evolving to prioritize industry-accepted processes that include methodologies for levels of evidence assessment, patient representation, member input on future topics, public feedback, and diverse forms of content dissemination. Learn more about AASLD’s commitment to provide the best practice guidelines to our members and the community.
Learn MoreGuidelines and Guidance by Disease
- Acute Liver Failure, Management
- Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure and the Management
- Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease
- Ascites, Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis and Hepatorenal Syndrome, Management
- Autoimmune Hepatitis, Management
- Drug, Herbal, and Dietary Supplement-induced Liver Injury
- Hemochromatosis, Management
- Hepatic Encephalopathy
- Hepatitis B, Chronic
- Hepatitis C, Guidance
- Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Management
- Liver Biopsy
- Liver Transplantation, Evaluation of the Adult Patient
- Liver Transplantation, Evaluation of the Pediatric Patient
- Long-Term Management of the Adult Liver Transplant
- Long-Term Management of the Pediatric Liver Transplant
- Malnutrition, Frailty, and Sarcopenia in Patients with Cirrhosis
- Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease and Clinical Assessment and Management
- Noninvasive Liver Disease Assessment
- Palliative Care and Symptom-Based Management for Decompensated Cirrhosis
- Portal Hypertension Bleeding in Cirrhosis, Guidance
- Primary Biliary Cholangitis
- Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis and Cholangiocarcinoma
- Reproductive Health and Liver Disease
- TIPS, Variceal Embolization, and Retrograde Transvenous Obliteration
- Vascular Disorders of the Liver
- Wilson Disease, Diagnosis and Treatment
Show Guidelines Development
Guidelines Development
AASLD strives to review and update its practice guidelines every five (5) years, as necessary. Users are cautioned that in the interim, scientific and medical developments may supersede or invalidate, in whole or in part, specific recommendations in any guideline. A guideline is considered to be "inactive" if it has not been updated by AASLD in at least five (5) years, and for this reason particular care must be exercised in placing reliance on an inactive guideline.
AASLD commissions and provides financial support for the formulation and production of practice guidelines/guidances by volunteer experts. Financial support from commercial entities or the pharmaceutical industry is not accepted for the development of AASLD practice guidelines.
Quality Measures
Quality measures are a tool for providers and institutions to evaluate their care quality, drive quality improvement, and deliver high-value patient care.
View Quality MeasuresPatient Guidelines
Patient Guidances are adaptations of published AASLD guidances which are written specifically for patients to help them understand their liver disease. Clinicians may also provide these patient guidances to their patients as a resource during consultations.
View Patient GuidelinesCiting Practice Guidelines and Guidances
AASLD practice guidelines and guidances are copyright protected. One copy may be accessed for personal research, scientific, scholarly or informational purposes and may be transmitted to a third-party colleague in hard copy or electronically for similar use. One figure, table or brief excerpt less than 400 words may be used in one’s scientific, scholarly and educational work with appropriate credit.
Permission is required to reproduce more than one figure, table, or section over 400 words or complete practice guidelines and guidances for systematic redistribution. Re-sale and posting AASLD practice guidelines and guidances on other websites are not allowed; however, linking to these documents is permitted. Contact jcastano@aasld.org for assistance.