What We Treat: Liver Disease

Liver Disease

Saint Joseph’s physicians diagnose and treat a variety of liver diseases and disorders including viral hepatitis, fatty liver, alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune liver diseases, and inherited liver diseases including:

• Chronic viral infections of the liver
• Acute viral hepatitis A
• Inherited disorders (hemochromatosis, Wilson’s disease and alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency)
• Alcoholic liver disease
• Primary biliary cirrhosis (diseases of the bile ducts inside and outside of the liver)
• Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis

Saint Joseph’s physicians are leaders in new, innovative and comprehensive therapies for any stage of liver disease including all complications of cirrhosis.  Physicians are prepared to receive and evaluate patients with severe liver failure, arranging for liver transplant if necessary.  Sophisticated monitoring equipment, even in the face of significant tendencies to bleed, is often employed by staff experts to improve patient survival.

Medical, surgical, and radiological specialists cooperate closely to diagnose and treat all types of liver disease and disorders including liver masses.  As one of the Southeast’s primary referral centers, Saint Joseph’s general surgeons have extensive experience with relatively uncommon hepatobiliary procedures including resection of biliary tract cancer, resection of liver cancer and ablation of liver cancers using a radio frequency probe.  Radiologists also perform chemoembolization, another approach to treat liver cancers.

Additionally, hospital radiologists offer a sophisticated array of diagnostic and therapeutic options for liver disease including transjugular intrahepatic portal system shunt (TIPS)-a procedure in which a stent (a tubular device) is placed in the middle of the liver to relieve the pressure in the portal vein.

Saint Joseph’s physicians were also the first in the Southeast to perform robotic-assisted adrenelyectomy, liver-resection and pancreatectomy. Robotic-assisted surgery offers patients a shorter hospital stay, reduced risk of infection and a faster recovery than traditional open surgery.

More Information / Referrals

For more information or to make a referral, please call call 678-843-5533.