Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders.

Diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract, which include the organs from mouth to anus, along the alimentary canal, are the focus of this specialty. Physicians practicing in this field are called gastroenterologists. They have usually completed about eight years of pre-medical and medical education, a year-long internship (if this is not a part of the residency), three years of an internal medicine residency, and two to three years in a gastroenterology fellowship. Gastroenterologists perform a number of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures including colonoscopy, endoscopy, endoscopic retrograde cholangiancreatography, endoscopic ultrasound, and liver biopsy. Some gastroenterology trainees will complete a "fourth-year" in transplant hepatology, advanced endoscopy, inflammatory bowel disease, motility, or other topics.

Hepatology, or hepatobiliary medicine, encompasses the study of the liver, pancreas, and biliary tract, while proctology encompasses the fields of the anal and rectal diseases. They are traditionally considered subspecialties of gastroenterology.