Liver & Biliary Diseases

Comprehensive Care from Renowned Liver Disease Experts

Research-based treatments

Diseases of the liver can have dramatic consequences. Your liver filters toxins from your blood and performs several other vital functions. So when it is not working well, it affects the rest of your body. The liver teams in NewYork-Presbyterian's Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation are among the best in the world and attract patients from across the globe.

Our experienced liver specialists provide a full range of treatments, including medications, interventional approaches, and minimally invasive surgeries that are not widely available elsewhere. We are also national leaders in liver transplantation — with one of the country’s largest living donor liver programs — and offer this approach for people whose liver disease cannot be effectively treated using other methods.

What causes liver disease?

There are many different causes of liver disease, some of which are not known. Among the most common known causes are:

• Excessive alcohol use or drug abuse
• Hepatitis A, B, and C viruses
• Autoimmune disorders
• Congenital problems, meaning you are born with a liver disorder
• Genetic factors, with some families inheriting a predisposition to liver problems, such as hemochromatosis and Wilson disease
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the setting of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol/triglycerides

What we treat

Our teams provide care for every type and stage of liver and bile duct disorder, including:

• Acute liver failure
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma)
• Primary (PSC) and secondary sclerosing cholangitis
• Cirrhosis of the liver
• Fatty liver disease, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
• Gallstones and other gallbladder diseases
• Hepatitis B
• Hepatitis C
• Hepatitis D
• Liver and bile duct cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma)
• Portal hypertension
• Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC)

Signs & symptoms of liver problems

Many liver diseases have no symptoms until the liver condition becomes more advanced.  That is why your primary care doctor should screen for liver diseases and hepatitis using blood tests. If you have liver or biliary disease, your symptoms may vary depending on which type of disorder you have and how advanced it is. Some of the most common symptoms include:

• Pain in the right upper abdomen
• Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes)
• Itchy skin
• Swelling of the abdomen
• Change in the color of the urine and/or stool
• Fatigue (feeling tired)
• Nausea
• Loss of appetite
• Feeling confused/disoriented

Advanced diagnostic techniques

Liver diseases can cause symptoms that mimic other illnesses, so an accurate diagnosis is necessary. It is also essential to evaluate the condition of your liver and determine much scarring (if any) has developed. We have all of the tools to diagnose the cause of your symptoms, including liver biopsy, interventional endoscopic procedures, and imaging tests. We also use non-invasive technologies such as Fibroscan® and magnetic resonance elastography, which enables us to assess the condition of your liver without having to do a liver biopsy. From routine blood tests to sophisticated radiologic and endoscopic techniques, you can receive all the testing you need at NewYork-Presbyterian.