Your telephonic liver assessment

We'll take a structured history, review the reports and results you've provided, and talk through your symptoms and current medication. The aim is to understand your situation, flag anything that needs urgent attention, and work out the right next step — most often, whether your scans should go to the interventional radiologist for a formal review. It's an assessment and orientation discussion, not a diagnosis or a commitment to treatment.

Please have your imaging (scans and any reports) and recent blood results ready. Both matter: we can't comment meaningfully on the health of your liver from scans alone. Blood results — particularly liver function tests, clotting and full blood count — tell us how the liver is actually working, and together with imaging they give us a proper picture. The more you can provide, the more useful the consultation will be.

You're welcome to be seen in person. We can arrange an in-person appointment for you at UCT Private Academic Hospital, where the Liver Centre South Africa and Cape Town Interventional Radiology teams are based. Simply message us on WhatsApp and we'll help set it up.

You can. Bear in mind that seeing a hepatologist directly means paying specialist consultation fees, which can start at around R2,000. In practice, most patients we see don't require a hepatology consultation — a GP review and, where needed, an interventional radiology scan review is often the appropriate pathway. If a hepatologist is the right step for you, you're welcome to see one of those we work with via Liver Centre South Africa.

Consultations and reviews are self-pay and not billed to medical aid directly, and reimbursement is not guaranteed. Payment is made by SnapScan. We provide a detailed invoice that you're welcome to submit to your medical aid yourself for possible reimbursement.

That's arranged through a formal scan review, where an interventional radiologist reviews your imaging and reports to assess possible suitability for an image-guided procedure and the right next step. It's a separate specialist service with its own fee. You can read exactly what's involved and arrange one on the interventional radiology scan review page.

The GP can comment on ultrasound scans and give you a sense of your situation. CT and MRI scans, however, require a formal review by the interventional radiologist — this is a separate paid service with a longer waiting list. You can read more and arrange one on the interventional radiology scan review page. For many patients, a quick GP review first is still worthwhile, as it helps you understand whether a formal specialist review is even needed, which can save both time and money.