Hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HPB)
What we do
We provide all-round care for people with liver, pancreatic, biliary and gallbladder disorders, both malignant and benign conditions.
Three different teams are involved in the care of our patients:
- HCC – for hepatocellular carcinomas (primary liver cancer)
- NET – for neuroendocrine tumours (rare pancreatic and small bowel cancer)
- HPB – for all other malignant and benign conditions of the liver, pancreas, bile ducts and gallbladder
HPB services
King’s HPB unit is the biggest one of its kind in Europe.
We perform around 1,000 major HPB surgeries per year and 10 to 12 cancer surgeries per week. We receive 50 new referrals per week and discuss 100 patients per week in our oncology HPB multidisciplinary meeting (MDM).
Patients are referred from south east London and England NHS Trusts for specialist opinion or surgical treatment. We also regularly receive international referrals or request for second opinions.
Our multidisciplinary team includes:
- HPB surgeons
- physician specialists in NET and HCC
- medical oncologists
- liver radiologists
- liver pathologists
- HPB senior clinical fellows and registrars
- clinical nurse specialists
- advanced nurse practitioners
- MDM coordinators
- liver admissions admins
- liver secretaries
- Macmillan support workers
- ward, theatres, outpatient nursing and admin staff
HPB Wards
King’s HPB patients are treated on:
Preparing for your appointment
You do not need to prepare for most outpatient appointments, but please contact us beforehand to check if there are any specific requirements for your appointment. We offer both face to face and telephone appointments, but in certain cases, we will insist we need to meet you (to assess you prior to surgery, or review you after you have had your operation).
You are welcome to bring a list of your current medication to the first appointment.
Who to contact
All contact details can be found below.
For general queries, contact the Liver/HPB secretaries.
If you are a cancer patient, you will meet your key worker or Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS). They will tell you how and when you can contact them.
For clinical issues and questions related to symptoms, surgery, procedures, and treatments contact the relevant CNS team using the details below.
If you have practical queries or want further information about support groups, contact the Macmillan Centre at King’s.
If you need to change your appointment or ask details about an upcoming outpatient appointment, please contact Liver Clinic outpatients.
Pancreatic Cancer UK leaflets
The patient information below, created by Pancreatic Cancer UK, provides further information:
- How is pancreatic cancer diagnosed?
- Symptoms of pancreatic cancer
- What is pancreatic cancer?
- Types of pancreatic cancer
- Inoperable cancer
- Operable cancer
- Surgery to remove pancreatic cancer
- Stents for blocked bile ducts
- Irreversible Electroporation IRE (Nanoknife®)
- Chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer
- Digestive symptoms in pancreatic cancer
- Diet and pancreatic cancer
- How to manage problems with digestion using pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT)
- Pain and pancreatic cancer
- Pancreatic cancer and end of life care
- Pancreatic Cancer UK Services
External resources
- Pancreatic Cancer UK
- Cancer Research UK
- NET Patient Foundation
- AMMF: The Cholangiocarcinoma Charity
- Macmillan
- GIST Support UK (GI stomal cancer)
- Cancer of Unknown Primary Foundation
- Cancer52 (rare cancers)
- King’s College Hospital Charity
Location
Suite 9, Third Floor, Golden Jubilee Wing, King’s College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 9RS
Contact Details
- Main Reception: 020 3299 4801
- Cancer support workers: 020 3299 5959
- Cancer support workers email: [email protected]
- HCC Team CNS: 020 3299 5189
- HCC Team CNS email: [email protected]
- HPB Team CNS: 020 3299 6337
- HPB Team email: [email protected]
- Liver Clinic outpatients: 020 3299 5744
- Liver Clinic outpatients email: [email protected]
- Liver/HPB secretaries email: [email protected]
- NET Team CNS: 020 3299 3854
- NET Team CNS email: [email protected]
Patient information leaflets
| Title | File Size | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical nurse specialist (CNS) | 70 KB | |
| Multidisciplinary team (MDT) | 74 KB |
Conditions we treat
Malignant conditions (cancers):
- primary liver cancer: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma
- secondary liver tumours (liver metastases) from a primary cancer (bowel, breast, pancreas, skin, etc.)
- gallbladder cancer
- pancreatic cancer
- neuroendocrine tumours (NET)
Benign conditions:
- benign liver tumours: focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), adenoma, haemangioma
- benign liver cysts: simple cysts, hydatid cysts, polycystic liver disease
- benign biliary conditions: biliary cystadenoma, choledochal anomalies
- benign pancreatic cysts:
- intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN)
- serous cystic tumour or neoplasm (SCT or SCN)
- solid pseudo-papillary tumour (SPT or SPPT)
- mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN)
- chronic and acute pancreatitis
- any complex benign hepatobiliary and pancreatic conditions
Tests and investigations
Most HPB conditions, especially cancerous ones, will require a number of blood tests, scans and investigations so we can make sure we have all the information we need to make the right diagnosis and offer you the best care. You will have most of these at King’s and they include:
- blood tests
- biopsy such as fine needle aspiration (FNA) with radiological (ultrasound or CT) or endoscopic guidance
- CT scan
- MRI scan
- PET-CT scan
- endoscopy including an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), percutaneous trans-hepatic cholangiography (PTC), upper or lower endoscopy; video-capsule endoscopy (enteroscopy) and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
Treatments
Our HPB service is mainly a surgical one. HPB, HCC and NET also work closely with oncologists for all malignant conditions. The range of treatments we provide includes:
- surgery:
- liver, pancreatic and biliary resection including (non-exhaustive):
- Whipple procedure
- total pancreatectomy
- distal pancreatectomy +/- splenectomy
- standard and extended left and right hepatectomy
- segmentectomy or wedge or non-anatomical liver resection
- biliary exploration and reconstruction
- cysts fenestration
- cholecystectomy
- total pancreatectomy and auto-islets transplantation (TPAIT)
- some minor surgeries can be done laparoscopically (keyhole) but most major procedures will have to be open procedures
- liver, pancreatic and biliary resection including (non-exhaustive):
- specialist interventional radiology:
- percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) of primary and secondary liver tumours
- percutaneous chemo-embolisation (TACE, DEBIRI) for primary and secondary liver tumours
- irreversible electroporation (IRE or ‘Nanoknife’) for pancreatic and liver tumours
- selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) for primary or secondary liver tumours
- oncology:
- immunotherapy
- systemic chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy is provided by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (Guy’s Cancer Centre)
- palliative care
Our cancer web pages have more information about the cancer care provided at King’s.
Booking a patient at King’s
Routine Referrals
Cancer referrals
Please complete the relevant form below and send it to [email protected] and the respective CNS team.
HPB MDT Coordinator: 020 3299 5737 and 020 3299 5989
HCC MDT Coordinator: 020 3299 1561
NET MDT Coordinator: 020 3299 3903
General queries: [email protected]
Cancer referrals are discussed at multidisciplinary meetings (MDMs). We will not discuss benign referrals on MDMs unless approved by HPB consultants. Please address benign referrals to HPB consultants directly.
Benign referrals
Routine
Benign referrals should be sent along with referral letter to HPB consultants directly.
GPs should use NHS e-referral (e-RS) where possible to book in one of the HPB clinics. We do not accept referrals for upper GI, general surgery or general hepatology, and we will reject those referrals.
Emergency
For urgent referrals by local teams, discuss the case with the HPB doctor on-call by calling King’s main switchboard on 020 3299 9000 and bleep 258. Alternatively, email [email protected].
Referral forms
| Title | File Size | Link |
|---|---|---|
| HCC MDM referral form | 26 KB | |
| HPB MDM referral form | 88 KB | |
| NET MDM referral form | 23 KB |
Key Clinical Staff
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Mr Simon Atkinson | Consultant Pancreatic Surgeon |
| Mrs Elmie Cananea | Clinical Nurse Specialist |
| Miss Pamella Lee | ERAS Specialist Nurse |
| Mrs Wendy Martin | Lead CNS for Neuroendocrine Tumours |
| Mr Krishna Menon | Consultant, Liver Transplant and HPB |
| Mr Suresh Menon | HPB Oncology CNS |
| Prof Ameet Patel | Consultant Surgeon |
| Ms Juliette Ribaud | Clinical Nurse Specialist |
| Dr Paul Ross | Consultant Medical Oncologist (colorectal/HBP) |
| Miss Jennifer Rowntree | Lead Nurse HPB Oncology |
| Dr Debashis Sarker | Consultant and Reader in Medical Oncology |
| Ms Hiba Shanti | Senior Clinical Fellow |
| Mr Parthi Srinivasan | Consultant Liver and Pancreatic Surgeon |
| Dr Raj Srirajaskanthan | Consultant in Gastroenterology and Neuroendocrine Tumours and Clinical Lead for Neuroendocrine Tumour Service |