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Gastroenterology and Hepatology Director：KAWASHIMA,Hiroki （Professor）

Extensive Medical Experience in All Diseases Related to the Gastrointestinal Tract

We offer advanced diagnostic and treatment options for conditions affecting the digestive tract (including the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small and large intestine), biliary tract and pancreas, as well as liver diseases.


Medical Care System

In the outpatient clinic, specialists of the gastrointestinal tract, biliary tract, pancreas, and liver provide medical care every day. Also, we perform screening tests such as upper and lower endoscopy and abdominal ultrasound every day. In the inpatient department, specialists provide medical care to inpatients as the attending physician.

Target Diseases

Benign diseases (e.g. reflux esophagitis, gastric ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease) and malignant diseases such as cancer of the gastrointestinal tract (esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine), acute / chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, benign disease (bile duct / gallbladder stone and acute / chronic pancreatitis) and malignant disease such as cancer of the biliary tract and pancreas.

Strong Fields

We are actively involved in early detection and endoscopic therapy of gastrointestinal cancer. Also, we are confident in performing capsule endoscopy for small-bowel disease, diagnostic treatment using small intestinal endoscope, diagnostic treatment of viral hepatitis and liver cancer, ultrasonography for the biliary tract and pancreatic disease, and diagnostic treatment using endoscopes.

Clinical Results

We handle around 700 cases of inflammatory bowel disease each year and perform endoscopic treatment for early-stage digestive tract cancer in over 250 cases annually. We also conduct more than 300 capsule endoscopies and over 400 small intestine endoscopies each year. In addition, we provide ablation therapy, catheterization, and drug therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma in over 100 cases per year, and diagnose and treat more than 100 cases per year of gallbladder cancer, bile duct cancer, papillary tumors, and pancreatic cancer.

Specialized Outpatient Clinic

Every day, we have two gastroenterology specialists, one or two liver specialists, and one biliary tract and pancreas specialist available for outpatient services. This means that whenever you visit us, you will be seen by a dedicated specialist.

Advanced Medicine and Research

We have recently discovered Meflin, a specific marker of reactive cancer-associated fibroblasts (rCAFs) in pancreatic cancer. Our research has shown that rCAFs may represent proliferating resident fibroblasts. By using a pharmacological approach, we have identified AM80, a synthetic unnatural retinoid, as a reagent that can effectively convert Meflin-negative pancreatic CAFs (pCAFs) to Meflin-positive rCAFs. Our aim is to investigate the effectiveness of a combination of AM80, gemcitabine (GEM), and nab-paclitaxel (nab-PTX) in treating patients with advanced pan creatic cancer.