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Liver Care
If you have a liver condition, trust your care to Essentia's liver health experts. The liver performs many essential functions related to digestion, metabolism, immunity, and the storage of nutrients within the body. Liver diseases, like hepatitis, cancer or cirrhosis, can be inherited or caused by a variety of factors, such as viruses, alcohol use or obesity.
Ask for a Referral
You’ll need a referral from your primary care provider or a specialist for this service.
When to See a Specialist
You should see a liver care doctor if a routine blood test shows higher-than-normal liver enzymes, and the enzymes don’t return to normal in six months. Other symptoms of liver disease include:
- Abdominal pain
- Bleeding or easy bruising
- Fatigue
- Jaundice (yellow coloring to the skin and whites of the eyes)
- Nausea
- Swelling
TeleVideo Exam
Depending on your condition and location, you may talk to a liver care doctor via a TeleVideo Exam.
Conditions Treated
See the full list of conditions we treat, and select a condition to find providers and locations near you.
Viral Hepatitis
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus . There are five main types of hepatitis—A, B, C, D, and E. Hepatitis B and C are common causes of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Essentia liver care doctors frequently treat Hepatitis B and C.
Liver Transplants
While Essentia does not perform liver transplants, we work with specialists from the University of Minnesota Health and the Mayo Clinic who travel to Duluth, Minnesota, to see patients on a monthly basis.
Essentia gastroenterologists help manage liver patients to prepare them for transplant. After a liver transplant we will monitor your health and provide follow-up care to ensure you remain healthy.
Liver Biopsies
A liver biopsy involves removing a small piece of liver tissue that can then be looked at under a microscope. We also have a Fibroscan technology that can often give similar information about liver health but does not require a biopsy. This technique uses sound waves to measure the stiffness of your liver. This test is fast, easy, and painless which means you can resume your daily activities immediately.
Portal Hypertension Treatment
When the liver is damaged, pressure can build up in veins that normally flow into the liver. This can lead to severe bleeding. This can also lead to fluid, called ascites, building up in the abdomen or chest cavity. Essentia physicians are trained and prepared to manage and help prevent these complications of liver failure.
TIPS Procedure
When your liver is very damaged, blood flow may slow and put pressure on your veins. This can cause bleeding from large veins or a buildup of fluid in your belly. Essentia offers a minimally invasive treatment called Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) to treat these conditions.
During TIPS, a thin wire is inserted into a vein in your neck and threaded down to your liver. The wire carries a tiny metal, mesh tube called a stent which is then placed in the blocked vein. The stent holds the vein open which allows better blood flow to your liver and relieves pressure on other blood vessels.
Because this treatment is minimally invasive, you’ll recover faster and feel less pain than you would after surgery.
Liver Cancer Treatment
If you have small cancer tumors in your liver and don’t qualify for traditional surgery, you may benefit from a minimally invasive procedure performed by an interventional radiologist or oncologist. These specialists use image guidance to send a needle, probe, or medicine directly to tumors. This type of treatment avoids healthy tissue, which means you experience fewer side effects.
Your doctor may recommend:
- Ablation – Uses heat to destroy cancer cells
- Chemoembolization – Injects drugs that fight cancer into the blood vessel feeding the tumor
- Cryosurgery – Freezes and kill cancer cells
- TheraSphere – Treats liver cancer with a tiny amount of radioactive substances