GASTROENTEROLGY VS HEPTOLOGIST

[Cigarred]

I'm a bit confussed. My gastroenterolist is a member of the facualty practice at Mt Sinai of NYC bearing the same name, Dept of Gastroenterology.  On her card it reads specializing in diseases of the liver.  How do I know if she is a heptologist or not, or does it matter, given that is a member of a great hospital?

[FlGuy]

Isn't Mt Sinai of NYC the place where Dr. D. Dietrich hangs his stethescope too?

[susan400]

I go to a gastro. because there are no hepato. docs anywhere near me.  As is is, I drive 2 to 2-1/2 hrs to this guy because he takes a particular interest in Hep C.  All of the gastro. Dr.'s in my immediate area aren't any good when it comes to hard to treat Hep C patients like me.  I say 'hard to treat' because I've not responded to numerous different treatment regimens and have 2 genotypes and I'm bordering on cirrhosis.  Anyway, most of the gastro's around here, just don't even want me for a patient, literally.  I went to one Dr. as a consult, and he never even came in the room to introduce himself, he let his PA tell me that he couldn't do anything for me, end of story.  There wasn't even an attempt to offer follow-up, i.e. monitoring labs, etc.   So, if you can find a good gastro, who will treat you and has an interest in Hep C,....keep him/her.

Susan

[mremeet]

You can simply ask her what her specialty is, and how many people she's treated with HCV. Many doctors that work out of hospitals have their bios on the hospital website. The bio usually will describe what their special interests are. And since HCV is probably the most common liver disease there is in the US (that I know of), it usually isn't that hard to find a hepatologist that specializes in the treatment of hepatitis C (and B), especially in NYC. I found a link below that'll probably have your doctor on it. Click on her name to see what her special interests are.

http://www.mountsinai.org/hso/hso_frame.jsp?nav=fad&hosp=msh

[jmjm530]

A hepatologist is a doctor who specializes in diseases of the liver. They are usually also gastroenterologists. Your doctor therefore appears to meet the definition of hepatologist.

-- Jim