Who Should Consult a Hepatologist?

Hepatologists are specialists who provide treatment to patients suffering from various liver diseases and disorders in gall bladder, biliary tree, and pancreas. These specialized doctors are expert in therapies, hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery, interventional radiology, and medical oncology. They use the latest technology with the best facilities to treat their patients.

Who should consult a hepatologist?

 

People suffering from symptoms like fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, jaundice, abdominal pain, dark urine, swelling in the ankles and legs, and pale and dark colored stool should consult a hepatologist.

 

Apart from that, patients detected with the following diseases must consult a hepatologist.

 

Hepatitis diseases: Hepatitis viruses cause cirrhosis, fibrosis, and liver cancer. Consuming contaminated food or water and exposure to infected bodily fluids or infected blood can cause hepatitis diseases.

 

Genetic liver diseases:  Hemochromatosis or iron overload and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency come under this category of diseases. Patients suffering from hemochromatosis get iron deposited in the liver and other organs leading to serious damage to liver or liver cancer. Patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, Wilson’s disease, and hereditary amyloidosis face the risk of liver cancer.

 

Autoimmune liver disease: Patients suffering from autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) must consult a hepatologist. In autoimmune liver diseases, patient’s immune system erroneously attacks the liver and causes damage to the organ. Primary sclerosing cholangitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, and autoimmune hepatitis lead to liver cancer.

 

Fatty liver disease: Patients suffering from liver diseases should also consult a hepatologist. These diseases lead to serious damage of the organ. There are non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases and alcoholic fatty liver diseases. Simple fatty liver generally does not cause major liver damage or serious complications but alcoholic fatty liver disease happens because of heavy alcohol consumption.

 

Hepatologists may prescribe colonoscopy, UGI endoscopy, manometry, liver biopsy and fIbroscan, ERCP double balloon enteroscopy, 24-hour pH study endoscopic ultrasonography, and capsule endoscopy for the diagnosis of the disease the patient is suffering from. However, before one consults a hepatologist in Delhi, it is important to know the doctors available in the city. You must enquire about them and know how effective they are in the treatment of liver diseases.