Q&A With Santiago Munoz From Hahnemann Hospital: Hepatitis C, Fatty Liver Disease, and the Future of Hepatology

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As hepatitis C becomes a curable condition and fatty liver disease becomes a growing problem hepatologists are being forced to shift their focus to help a new patient population without some of the tools they have become used to having at their disposal.

With the approval of new medications for hepatitis C over the past few years doctors are able to use a unique word in their field more often. That word, is cure, which can a new lease on life for their patients.

A lot of progress has been made in the area of liver disease which has reduced the number of patients requiring living transplants. While a lot has been accomplished there is still much more work to be done.

Even as hepatitis C becomes a more treatable and ultimately curable condition hepatologists are now facing a growing number of patients with fatty liver disease. While weight loss can help with the condition there are not many other options available specifically designed for these patients.

Now that doctors know how to treat most patients with hepatitis C the goal is to find as many of the undiagnosed cases as possible to get them the treatment they may not even know they need. Over the next 10 to 20 years that could change even more as the condition becomes more of a rare disease than a regular occurrence.