Internal Medicine_Gastroenterology
The Department of Gastrointestinal Internal Medicine of Seoul National University Hospital engages in diagnosis, treatment, research, and education on major digestive diseases such as esophageal, gastrointestinal and colon diseases, and liver pancreatic and biliary diseases.
Primary Target diseases and research
- In the gastrointestinal tract, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, colonoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, capsule endoscopy, and small intestine endoscopy are applied to diagnose diseases of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon. In addition, endoscopic resection of gastric polyps, early gastric cancer, and colon polyps, endoscopic hemostasis for gastrointestinal bleeding, balloon dilatation and stent placement for gastrointestinal stenosis, endoscopy for therapeutic purposes, such as endoscopic percutaneous gastrostomy to supply enteral nutrition are also available.
- Intensive treatment of various liver diseases such as steatotic liver disease, acute/chronic liver disease, liver cancer, and complications of cirrhosis is mainly conducted in liver centers. In particular, endoscopic variceal ligation for gastric variceal sclerosis, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt and balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration using angiography are performed to treat complications of liver cirrhosis. In addition, the optimal treatment for liver cancer is applied to each patient, whether it is surgery, percutaneous ethanol injection, radio-frequency ablation, transarterial chemoembolization, transarterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads, radiation embolization, target chemotherapy, immuno-oncology therapy, radiation therapy, and liver transplantation. Additionally, cutting-edge clinical trial treatments are being implemented.
- In the field of the pancreas and biliary tract, the department performs diagnosis of pancreatic and biliary tract diseases using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and therapeutic procedures such as endoscopic sphincterotomy, endoscopic pancreatic sphincterotomy, biliary stone removal, and pancreatic stone removal. In addition to the diagnosis of pancreatic and biliary tract diseases using ultrasound endoscopy, therapeutic procedures such as bile duct and pancreatic duct drainage, pseudocyst drainage, and ethanol ablation of pancreatic cystic lesions are also available. We also perform a range of other endoscopic procedures, including percutaneous transhepatic biliary endoscopy, electrohydraulic lithotripsy and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. In addition to these, the department diagnoses various pancreatic tumors, including pancreatic cancer and bile duct cancer, as well as treating pancreatic cancer and bile duct cancer using chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy.
- The Liver Research Institute of Seoul National University is conducting basic research to investigate the epidemiology and pathophysiology of esophageal, gastrointestinal, bowel, liver, pancreatic and biliary diseases, and to improve diagnosis and treatment. Molecular biology studies are being conducted on gastrointestinal cancer cells, anti-tumor effects of new anticancer candidates, identification of pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease, anti-inflammatory effects of drug candidates, and cohort-based genomic studies of liver and gastrointestinal diseases.