NAPLES. In Campania, diagnoses of liver and digestive system diseases have multiplied in the last decade. A real emergency that requires a response based on skills, technologies and professionalism. The Luigi Vanvitelli University Hospital of Naples, through the Hepatogastroenterology Complex Operational Unit, has chosen to combine the care skills gained from a long tradition of Gastroenterology and Hepatology School with the innovation deriving from research and has thus expanded the range of services available to patients.
“The healthcare offer – explains Professor Alessandro Federico – is expressed through a widespread professional network, which allows the individualization of diagnostic pathways and the personalization of therapeutic protocols”. A program strongly desired by the General Director Ferdinando Russo and the Health Director Pasquale Di Girolamo Faraone, who intended to make Hepatogastroenterology the fulcrum of healthcare activities, with different types of clinics, day hospital service, day service and ordinary hospitalization. The outpatient activity, coordinated by Professor Alessandro Federico, is entrusted to the experience of doctors Marco Niosi and Marcello Dallio for hepatological skills and doctors Antonietta Gravina and Paola Ciamarra for the management of digestive tract pathologies. The outpatient clinic dedicated to the management of chronic liver diseases of viral etiology, which historically have sadly plagued Campania, guarantees the prescription of innovative drugs capable of “controlling” the hepatitis B virus and eradicating the hepatitis C virus.
«For subjects with metabolic problems of the liver (hepatic steatosis) – explains Professor Federico – there is a dedicated clinic in which, with a view to a complete framework, an evaluation of the nutritional status is also carried out (with the aid of a nutritional biologist) through impedance measurement, V-Scan, metabolic bracelet and computerized nutritional investigation, as well as a psychological evaluation (with the help of an eating behavior psychologist). Tests aimed at guaranteeing the patient correct dietary-behavioral-pharmacological indications”.
As regards digestive endoscopy, at the Hepatogastroenterology Unit, esophagogastroduodenoscopies and pancolonscopies with retrograde ileoscopy are carried out, both diagnostic and operational on an outpatient and ordinary hospitalization basis, day hospital and day service for all the operating units of the hospital and for users external upon reservation CUP. In particular, we perform polypectomies, ligation of varicose veins, treatment with argon plasma coagulation, dilation of esophageal and/or colic strictures, positioning of prostheses, positioning of PEG-j for patients with Parkinson’s disease, electroporation [MD1] of tumors. All diagnostic and operational procedures are performed with continuous anesthetic assistance, under the direction of Professor Caterina Pace, in the endoscopy room. The Hepatogastroenterology UOC is a regional reference center for rare diseases authorized for treatment, management and certification and Professor Alessandro Federico is also the sole contact person for the Hospital for the prescription of new drugs for progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis.
