Hepatology and liver disease
The L&D provides a hepatology clinical service covering all aspects of liver disease, with dedicated liver clinics as well as endoscopy lists for variceal treatment.
Treatment for hepatitis B and hepatitis C patients are available locally. Other liver diseases such as alcoholic & non-alcoholic liver disease, auto-immune hepatitis as well as metabolic liver disease (such as iron or copper overload conditions) are managed here too.
Luis Neto-Pereira was appointed in July 2020 as the Hepatology Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. He offers advice about hepatology patients, facilitates reviews, in-reaching to the wards, providing a dedicated and differentiated Hepatology input, in discussion with the Hepatologist Consultants. This model was found to be very effective, avoiding delays in crucial investigations and optimising the management plan of a Liver patient, avoiding possible deteriorations and admissions to critical care units, reducing inpatient length of stay, improving clinical outcomes. He is also trained in Paracentesis and Ultrasound, offering a Paracentesis service for patients with chronic liver disease.
Luis also runs a nurse led clinic seeing patients with Hepatitis B and following up their medical condition. He has introduced in our trust a Discharge follow up clinic, which aims to facilitate safe and early discharges from the hospital for patients with liver disease, aiming to reduce their length of inpatient stay, reducing readmissions to the hospital, and ensure patients are safely followed up.
He has an important role as liaison with the community services, to ensure our patients are well supported.
Luis works Monday to Friday – and he is available at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital from 9am-4pm.
Marie Therese Moore is the viral hepatitis nurse specialist here at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital. Her working days are Tuesday and Thursday. She can be contacted on her mobile number 07775030970 or email marie.moore2@ldh.nhs.uk
Therese runs outpatient clinics offering treatment and monitoring for patients who have HCV and HBV. Therese also works closely with the ODN at Addenbrookes. Luton and Dunstable is a sub-hub of the operational delivery network which ensures the availability of the new direct acting antivirals to all those infected by HCV.
Training is provided for both internal and external staff and Therese runs case finding events for hepatitis C, targeting high risk populations across Luton.
Fibroscan – The Luton and Dunstable Hospital run a fibroscan service on a Tuesday and Thursday each week. Please refer to Martin McGrath, Fibroscan Technician, Hepatology Department, Luton and Dunstable University Hospital.
The Hepatology team also has strong well-established links with Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, where complex liver patients, including those with acute liver failure, liver cancers & potential candidates for a liver transplant are referred.
Joint clinics with the hepatology team from Addenbrookes are conducted quarterly, where potential transplant candidates can be assessed at an early stage, and patients who have already been transplanted are followed up. Joint clinics are also conducted with Genito-urinary medicine for patients with viral hepatitis & HIV.
The following research trials are being conducted by Dr S Sen and Dr P Khanna
- UK-PBC, UK-PSC
- AURORA (drug trial fatty liver disease)
Endoscopic treatments available at the L&D for managing varices include:
- band ligation (applying a rubber band on the varix in the gullet to eradicate it),
- sclerotherapy (injecting a blood clotting agent directly into the varix), and
- superglue injection (again, directly into varices in the stomach).
Please follow these links for more information about Liver Disease and Hepatology:
British Liver Trust
Addenbrookes Hospital
British Association for the Study of Liver