Sudhakar Venkatesh

Sudhakar K. Venkatesh, M.D., studies chronic liver diseases and focal liver lesions from a noninvasive diagnosis perspective. Dr. Venkatesh uses state-of-the-art imaging and advanced techniques (including diffusion-weighted imaging and magnetic resonance elastography) to find imaging biomarkers that can accurately diagnose liver fibrosis.

Dr. Venkatesh is also researching outcomes of chronic liver diseases in terms of liver decompensation. Additionally, he is interested in biliary tract diseases, infective disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and disorders of the pancreas.

Focus areas

• Liver fibrosis. Dr. Venkatesh is investigating noninvasive biomarkers for diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis. Currently, he is focusing on magnetic resonance elastography as a method to evaluate liver stiffness that correlates with fibrosis stage.
• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Dr. Venkatesh is working with other colleagues to differentiate nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in early stages from simple steatosis of the liver.
• Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Dr. Venkatesh is working to improve the diagnostic accuracy of imaging diagnosis of PSC and PBC.
• Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Dr. Venkatesh is working on computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging techniques (including the use of augmented human intelligence) for detection and characterization of HCC and CCA, the two most common primary liver tumors.

Significance to patient care

The identification of noninvasive biomarkers for staging of liver fibrosis will reduce the need for painful liver biopsies. Differentiating NASH from simple steatosis would help to implement treatment strategies to prevent progression of NASH. Early diagnosis of HCC and CCA will be useful for early treatment of these deadly tumors, with an ultimate goal of curing them.