Hepatology service

We provide treatment and care for diseases of the liver, pancreas and bile ducts. Our specialised services include:

• hepatitis B and C
• non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• alcohol-related liver disease
• autoimmune hepatitis
• metabolic liver diseases
• primary biliary cholangitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis (diseases involving inflammation of the bile ducts)
• liver cirrhosis and its complications
• bile duct blockages
• chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic stones and other benign pancreatic diseases.

Services we provide

We provide a wide range of services for liver patients including:

• Paracentesis (draining fluid from the abdomen) in a day care unit (ultrasound-guided)

• 24/7 emergency endoscopy for patients with variceal bleeding (bleeding from dilated blood vessels in the oesophagus or stomach)
• dedicated endoscopy lists for management of varices (dilated blood vessels related to liver disease)
• FibroScan (PDF 98Kb)
• ultrasound-guided percutaneous (through the skin) liver biopsy
• transjugular liver biopsy
• complex endoscopic interventions for pancreas, gall bladder and bile ducts disorders (endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatogram (ERCP), spyglass, electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL), extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), cystgastrostomy)
• endoscopic ultrasound
• virtual clinics where we review patients’ records and results and make a management plan without physically seeing the patient.

We work closely with our alcohol care team, obesity and bariatric service and the inflammatory bowel diseases service. We refer patients who may require more specialised treatment or liver transplantation to the King's College Hospital hepatology and liver transplant centre.