Overview

This intensive three-day clinical ultrasound course introduces clinicians to the use of ultrasound for assessment of liver disease. It will provide hands-on experience of ultrasound, along with the essential accompanying theory sessions.

You'll be taught at London's Royal Free Hospital by experts in clinical ultrasound who will mentor you in recognising normal anatomy and pathological features.

The training will help you develop a more integrated clinical approach to hepatology.

The course aims to introduce the use of ultrasound with three main objectives:

• to review the most important topics in hepatology through a different perspective, broadening hepatology physicians knowledge
• to propose a rapid and practical approach for assessing patients with liver disease
• to introduce the use of ultrasound-based known and emerging techniques which are recognised as essential tools in the assessment of chronic liver disease

Who this course is for

This CPD course is aimed mainly at hepatologists in training and hepatology consultants, from the UK or overseas.

The practical nature of the training means that there are only 20 places, so each participant will have time to gain hands-on experience.

There will be a waiting list once the course is full.

Eligibility

UK participants must have General Medical Council (GMC) registration.

You should have considerable clinical experience in hepatology. 

We encourage the participation of hepatology registrars who have access to an ultrasound machine in their place of work. This will be important in developing and maintaining the practical skills acquired.

Content and structure

You'll learn through a mixture of lectures and practical sessions.

During the first part of the course there will be:

• lectures on normal abdominal anatomy and its sonographic equivalent, followed by practical sessions in which you'll be taught how to recognise and describe the relative findings
• the opportunity to gain confidence with the technical aspects of ultrasound during the practical sessions

The second part of the course will be dedicated to lectures on different liver disease pathologies. This will be followed by practical sessions during which you'll be guided by your assigned mentor to familiarise yourself with the different sonographic features of liver disease.

There will be also space for discussion on what hepatology physicians should know about ultrasound-based interventional techniques, as well as the latest advances and their potential applications with projection of pictures and clips.

You'll finish by taking part in an interactive clinical case discussion after which you'll complete a questionnaire to evaluate your knowledge and achievements.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• review and further understand the clinical approach to non-invasive assessment of liver disease
• understand how to use an ultrasound machine in the context of different clinical scenarios of patients with liver disease
• develop an integrated approach to clinical management in order to improve patients' care
• develop interest in a particular area of clinical research

Why you should attend

UCL's Institute for Liver and Digestive Health is one of the best referrals centres in UK. It's an example of clinical excellence and is one of the main centres of basic and translational research.

Many centres in Europe (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Romania) use clinical ultrasound in their general practice (as well as in different specialities). There is evidence that this clinical approach improves patient care and increases the possibilities of clinical research. Expanding this area in UK will enable further networking across centres not only within UK but also internationally.

Benefits to your employer

Although this is an introductory course, the theory and practical sessions will provide the necessary clinical knowledge to improve patient care by giving participants a better understanding and a more focused and rapid assessment of patients with liver disease. This can speed up the time of diagnosis, the appropriateness of referrals and the development of local research.

Cost

The standard price is £400.

A reduced fee of £300 is available for SPRs and clinical fellows.

Course team

Dr Matteo Rosselli

Matteo is specialised in General Internal Medicine and Clinical Ultrasound. During his studies and specialisation he integrated his training with clinical ultrasound, developing a personal and practical approach to clinical medicine especially in the area of hepatology and acute medicine. His main interests are non-invasive assessment of liver disease, portal hypertension and autoimmune and cholestatic liver diseases. He works at San Giuseppe Hospital General Hospital (Italy) and is a clinical lecturer in hepatology at University College London – Royal Free Hospital. From 2013 to 2017 he worked in the Hepatology Department of the Royal Free Hospital, with a honorary contract at Imperial College.

Dr Dominic Yu

Dominic is a consultant at the Royal Free Hospital where he is lead hepatobiliary radiologist for the Liver Unit. He's particularly interested in liver transplantation, management of portal hypertension and liver tumors.

Dr Adrian Lim

Adrian has been a Consultant Radiologist since 2003 at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and Chief of Ultrasound at Charing Cross Hospital. He has a specific interest in oncological, breast, MSK imaging and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (hepatic and extrahepatic applications). He has been a reader at Imperial College London since 2010 and adjunct Professor of Radiology since 2013.

Professor Ioan Sporea

Ioan is Head of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Department in Timisoara, Romania. He's an internationally recognised expert in clinical ultrasound and is one of the leading authorities who has taken part to the latest EFSUMB guidelines on liver elastography. His department was nominated in 2007 as one of the few Training Centres of Reference of the World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB).

Dr Ivica Grgurević

Ivica is Head of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Clinical Nutrition at University Hospital Dubrava in Zagreb, Croatia. He has specific interests in Doppler assessment of hepato-portal circulation and ultrasound-based elastography for non-invasive assessment of chronic liver diseases and portal hypertension. He's also President of the Ultrasound section of the Croatian Society of Gastroenterology and Vice-president of the Croatian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.

Dr Davide Roccarina

Davide is a specialist in General Internal Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital. He has a specific interest in hepatology, clinical ultrasound and non-invasive assessment of liver disease.

Dr Tom Heller

Tom has worked for more than 20 years in various international settings in the field of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Since January 2019 he’s worked in the gastroenterology department in Bad Toelz, Germany. He’s particular interested in diagnostic and interventional ultrasound. His research and teaching interests are ultrasound applications in the resource-limited setting and sonographic diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. He developed a protocol called (FASH) Focused assessment with Sonography for HIV/TB. This protocol focuses on using ultrasound to diagnose HIV-associated tuberculosis. Tom has also taught ultrasound in various countries in Africa, Asia and South America as well as on the course in tropical ultrasound annually held in Pavia, Italy.

Course information last modified: 30 Nov 2022, 15:59