St. Michael's Opens Liver Center

 
Responding to an increased need for services to diagnose and treat liver disease, Saint Michael's Hospital in Newark has announced the opening of The Liver Center, which will advance clinical research and treatment to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients.
 
The Liver Center at Saint Michael's will provide a coordinated, multi-specialty approach to liver disease, which has been called an unrecognized health crisis in America. The center opens just as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has proposed issuing new guidelines urging one-time viral hepatitis screening for all baby boomers, or those born between 1945 through 1965.
 
In addition, the nation's obesity epidemic is creating a rise in fatty liver disease.
 
The Liver Center at Saint Michael's will provide medical treatment, research, and minimally invasive surgical and radiologic hepato-pancreato-biliary interventions.
 
The CDC estimates that more than two million American baby boomers are infected with hepatitis C, and they account for 75 percent of all American adults living with the disease. Most, however, do not know they have the virus because Hepatitis C can damage the liver silently for as long as 20 to 30 years. The CDC estimates new guidelines could lead 800,000 more baby boomers to get treatment and could save more than 120,000 lives.
 
The leadership team of the Center includes:
 
   Dr. Joseph DePasquale, Medical Director of The Liver Center at Saint Michael's. Dr. DePasquale has more than 20 years' experience treating viral hepatitis and  is board       certified in gastroenterology and hepatology. He is  a Fellow of the American College of     Physicians and the American College of Gastroenterologists.
 
-        Dr. Andrew de la Torre, a board-certified surgeon with over 10 years of experience as a liver transplant surgeon and expert in hepato-pancreato-biliary procedures, or surgery of the liver, pancreas and bile ducts.
 
-        Dr. Jihad Slim, a board certified infectious disease expert and nationally known Hepatitis C expert who has researched the disease for more than two decades. His studies also include research into Hepatitis C and HIV co-infections.
 
Known risk factors for transmission of hepatitis C include blood transfusions before 1992, intravenous drug use and nasal inhalation of cocaine – even on a single occasion – as well as tattoos and body piercings, among others. Yet a recent survey by the American Gastroenterological Association found that many infected patients are unaware of the risk factors or do not recall exposure to any identified risk factor.
 
“That finding is consistent with what we are seeing,” said Dr. DePasquale.  “This underscores the need for outreach and screening of boomers. The CDC’s proposed recommendations are welcome news.”
 
Patients whose liver disease goes untreated, regardless of the cause, may eventually require a liver transplant.
 
“There will not be nearly enough organs available for all the people who will need a transplant,” said Dr. de la Torre. “That's why this Center is so important, to get treatment to people before they progress to liver failure or develop liver cancer, regardless of the cause.”