Overview

Hepatology is the branch of Medicine that deals with the study of the structure and function of the liver, gallbladder, pancreas and all other organs that are linked to the liver.

Overview

The objective of the study is holistic management of diseases related to all these organs, including their diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Severe acute liver diseases and advanced or end stage liver diseases affect every organ of the body, leading to major morbidity and eventually death of the affected individual.

Liver transplantation, an established procedure since 1983, can not only be life-saving but can also improve the quality of life of the individual to near-normal.

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Live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is the common form of LT practised in Northern India. It takes advantage of the fact that the healthy liver is one of the few organs in the body that is capable of regeneration. The gallbladder and bile ducts are the excretory organs of the liver that carry and store bile formed within the liver.

The pancreas is a large retroperitoneal organ that has two parts, the exocrine and the endocrine gland. A variety of diseases affect these organs and their management and their cure drives the objective of this department.

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The Specialty

Hepatology is an exhilarating and rapidly evolving super-specialty field within medicine, providing a wide array of advanced treatment options for complex hepato-pancreatico-biliary diseases.

This includes liver transplantation, which stands as the most intricate surgery that humanity can experience. This branch encompasses life-saving interventions employing advanced medical, surgical, endoscopic, and interventional radiologic approaches.

  • Acute Liver Failure (ALF)
  • Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure (ACLF)
  • End-stage Liver Disease
  • Hepatic encephalopathy (HE)
  • Portal Hypertension (PH) with GI bleeding
  • Alcohol related liver disease (ALD)
  • Viral Hepatitis (A-)
  • Autoimmune liver diseases
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma Liver Cancer
  • Alcohol related liver disease (ALD)
  • Inherited/metabolic liver disease
  • Gall bladder and bile duct stones
  • Benign and malignant obstructive jaundice
  • Acute pancreatitis and complications
  • Chronic pancreatitis and complications
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Departmental Services

The Department of Hepatology PBS & LT holds the capacity of eight beds, state-of-the-art Hepato-Pancreato Biliary (HPB) ICU to manage critically ill patients with ALF, ACLF and ESLD with its complications. Additionally, severe pancreato-biliary diseases with organ failure are also looked after here. Apart from ventilatory support, the ICU provides advanced hemodynamic monitoring, hemodialysis including CRRT, ECMO, and bed-side procedures including point-of-care ultrasonography, GI endoscopy, bronchoscopy and interventional radiologic procedures.

The Point-of-Care Clinic, AUD-ALD Clinic, and Liver Transplant Clinic have introduced various services. These include the availability of ultrasound assessments (POCUS) for comprehensive monitoring of ICU patients. These assessments encompass hemodynamics, echocardiography, ONSD, tapping of ascites, pleural effusion, and more, covering a thorough examination from head to toe.

  • The department also intervenes in management of a

    12-bedded

    Liver Transplant ICUin collaboration with
    the department of HPB Surgery and LT

  • The department also has a

    22-bedded

    IPD ward for HPB patients.

Both the wards and the ICUs have an average capacity of over 80%
Endoscopy Services
GI endoscopy services are available 24 hours for routine and emergency procedures.
Yoga Meditation and Wellness

The department offers therapeutic ERCP services to address complex biliary and pancreatic issues.

The range of procedures includes performing 'rendezvous' procedures to facilitate complex biliary drainage and providing endoscopic management for benign biliary strictures caused by PCC or after surgery, including liver transplant.

Departmental Services
Interventional Radiology (IR) Services

Integrated in-house interventional radiology support is available for scheduled procedures and 24 hours emergency interventions including the services for variceal bleeding (TIPSS, BRTO, PARTO), arterial bleeding (angiography and selective embolization), HCC (TACE, SIRT/TARE, RFA, MWA, etc.), occlusion of spontaneous shunts in refractory HE, biliary drainage in biliary obstruction or for bile leaks (PTBD, Rendezvous procedure), for monitoring HVPG and doing transjugular liver biopsy (TJLB), and for a variety of other IR procedures.

Besides these, multidisciplinary outpatient clinics such as the Liver Nutrition Clinic, NAFLD and regular ultrasound-guided percutaneous Liver Biopsies are carried out routinely. Additionally, Liver Stiffness Measurement (LSM) with a state-of-the art Fibroscan system from Echosens is also available at the Hepatology OPD.