Hepatology

Hepatology is the medical discipline which deals with the liver and its dysfunctions. The liver is responsible for regulating the metabolism and one of its main function is the formation of the bile. Our group comprises experts in the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases. We are offering our patients the best available therapies, often within clinical trials when such treatments are not yet available otherwise. We are involved in outpatient as well as in inpatient care to treat chronic viral hepatitis, immune liver diseases, cirrhosis and its complications. We are dedicated to train physicians and students in Hepatology. We cover all aspects of Hepatology including care of patients before and after liver transplantation. We are part of the University Clinic for Visceral Surgery and Medicine.

The Hepatology group of the University of Bern is a nationally and internationally recognized group involved in several important collaborative projects:

• The Swiss hepatitis C cohort, which collects for more since 2002 prospective information on more than 3’000 patients with have been infected with hepatitis C virus. This cohort has attracted worldwide attention, because it regularly publishes significant contributions to the field such as the role of the Interleukin 28.
• The FLIP cohort is an European cohort of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver. This is nowadays the most prevalent liver disease. A fraction of the patients with a fatty liver develop a steatohepatitis and later a cirrhosis of the liver. In this project we collect together with colleagues in Spain, Italy, Austria, France, Denmark and England epidemiological data.
• The European CLIF consortium is interested in the acute decompensation of cirrhotic patients. The course of this disease is still poorly understood, and better knowledge of this condition is necessary to improve its dismal prognosis. This work already led to the development of a score to better stratify the patients.

Please visit the external Group Website for more information.