Patient Care

Incorporating the latest research discoveries, the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition provides the best medical care available today to more than 6,000 children each year. Staffed by eight attending doctors, four fellows and three nurse practitioners, the program is one of the few centers in the country with the technical ability to offer a full range of advanced diagnostic procedures. This includes electrogastrogram motility studies; endoscopy; colonoscopy; esophageal stricture dilation; endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for pancreas, gallbladder and bile duct function; anorectal manometry (biofeedback for fecal incontinence) and liver biopsies, among others. The department performs more than 1000 procedures each year on children with intestinal and liver problems.

In addition to its clinic at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the department runs an extensive network of outreach clinics throughout the western United States, Hawaii and Alaska. This network enables children to receive state-of-the-art care in their local communities while training gastroenterologists, pediatricians and nurse practitioners at satellite hospitals in the latest treatment protocols.