Hepatology

Hepatology is an area of medicine that focuses on diseases and conditions of the liver.A hepatologist is usually certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology and is involved in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatic diseases, which also include the organs around the liver: gallbladder, pancreas and the biliary tract. Conditions treated are hepatitis infections, fatty liver disease (alcohol-related or not), jaundice, cirrhosis, metabolic liver disease, liver cancer. Other conditions treated are pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, gallstones, gallbladder inflammation and cancer, bile duct stones, bile duct adenomas (non-cancerous tumours), bile duct cancer. A hepatologist can perform ultrasound investigations, endoscopy, hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid scans (bile production), biopsies.