Overview

The liver is one of the most important organs in the body. It is the chemical factory of the body, responsible for synthesising many proteins that are important for life. It conducts over 500 chemical reactions for disposing waste products and detoxifying drugs and toxins so that they may be excreted from the body through bile. Hepatology is the branch of Medicine that deals with the study of the structure and function of the liver, gall bladder and pancreas, organs that are linked to the liver, with the objective of holistic management of diseases related to these organs, including their diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Severe acute and advanced, end stage liver diseases affect every organ of the body, leading to major morbidity and eventually death of the afflicted individual. Liver transplantation, an established procedure since 1983, is not only a life-saving procedure but can also improve the quality of life of the individual to near-normal. Live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) takes advantage of the fact that the liver is one of the few organs in the body that are capable of regeneration and is the commonest form of LT practised in northern India.

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. The exocrine pancreas secretes enzymes that are vital for the digestion of ingested food. The endocrine pancreas secretes insulin and several other hormones important for intermediary metabolism. A variety of diseases affect these organs and their management is also the brief of this department. It can be said that, the Department of Hepatology, Pancreato-biliary Sciences and Liver Transplantation at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital is a one-stop solution for all problems related to the liver. Our doctors are experienced and well trained. They work together and provide a care plan that not only treats the patient’s illness but also addresses the emotional stress which is part and parcel of the diagnosis of chronic liver disease. Our team specializes in detecting liver diseases and provides modern treatment approaches with innovative techniques, even for the conditions once which were thought untreatable.