Digestive Care: Baton Rouge

Why choose Ochsner Health for your digestive care in Baton Rouge?

Digestive disorders interfere with your quality of life, and they can be embarrassing and sometimes debilitating. When a condition impacts your digestive system — the organs from the mouth to the rectum that are responsible for digesting and using food — you need expert help to feel better. The board-certified gastroenterologists at Ochsner Digestive Care: Baton Rouge are fellowship-trained in the treatment of digestive disorders. They offer inpatient and outpatient services that include the full range of digestive care, including general gastroenterology and liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease care.

The digestive care team at Baton Rouge has a multidisciplinary approach to ensure quality. In addition to our gastroenterologists, we have endoscopists, nutritionists, obesity medicine specialists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants who assist in the diagnosis and treatment of digestive diseases and disorders. When it’s appropriate, our digestive care experts are also supported by the Ochsner system’s network of colorectal surgeons, general surgeons, interventional radiologists and hematologist-oncologists.

Patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis can benefit from our dedicated inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) program, which offers specialized care to patients experiencing conditions like Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Our IBD patients have a patient care navigator to help ensure the best possible experience for each patient.

Patients with chronic liver disease receive care at the Ochsner Liver Center in Baton Rouge, the region’s only dedicated liver center. The care team at Ochsner Liver Center includes liver specialists, radiologists, pathologists and surgeons who are experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of complex liver conditions, including hepatitis C, hepatitis B, autoimmune liver disease, liver failure and liver cancer. We work together with the Ochsner Transplant Institute in New Orleans to offer one of the nation’s highest rates of liver transplants.

The Liver Center Baton Rouge offers advanced technology for the diagnosis and treatment of liver conditions. For example, an imaging study called Fibroscan allows a patient to have their liver assessed for scarring and the presence of fat in a noninvasive and pain-free way that can often help them avoid a liver biopsy.

We also offer complex procedures for liver disease, including shunt placement for advanced liver cirrhosis, procedures to stop the blood supply to liver tumors so chemotherapy can be given through tumor’s blood vessels and the injection of radioactive beads into the liver to treat cancer.

Digestive disorders: Baton Rouge offers several options for care, including in-person visits at one of our many locations and virtual visits through MyOchsner. Our doctors are also available to provide second opinions if you’re unsure about a diagnosis or procedure.

Our digestive care programs for Baton Rouge are located at:

Ochsner Medical Complex - The Grove

Ochsner Medical Center - Baton Rouge

Ochsner Health Center - Bluebonnet South

Ochsner Health Center - Gonzales

Ochsner Health Center - Prairieville

To make an appointment, go to MyOchsner or call 225-761-5200. Our clinic navigator will make sure you see the person you need to see and help expedite your appointment. We accept all major insurances.

Digestive health conditions we treat include:

Abdominal pain

Advanced liver disease including cirrhosis

Anemia caused by gastrointestinal blood loss

Barrett’s esophagus

Celiac disease

Colon cancer

Colon polyps

Constipation

Diarrhea

Digestive tract blockages

Disorders of the bile duct and the pancreas

Esophageal blockages

Gastroparesis

GERD or acid reflux disease

Hemorrhoids

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis C

Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis

Irritable bowel syndrome

Liver cancer

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis/fatty liver disease

Pancreas and gallbladder disorders

Peptic ulcer disease

Pre-transplant liver care

Rectal bleeding

Trouble swallowing

Ochsner Digestive Care: Baton Rouge offers advanced, leading-edge procedures to treat digestive diseases and disorders.

General gastroenterology procedures include:

Advanced therapeutic endoscopic procedures

Botox injection

Colonoscopy

Esophagogastroduodenoscopy — a procedure that uses an endoscope to examine the duodenum, esophagus and stomach

Esophageal dilation — a procedure to stretch any narrowed portions of the esophagus

Fecal microbiota transplantation — a procedure to place healthy stool from a donor into a patient’s gastrointestinal tract

Flexible sigmoidoscopy — an examination that uses a thin camera to examine the lower colon and rectum

Food impaction removal

Foreign body removal

Hemostasis — a procedure that stops bleeding

High resolution esophageal manometry — a test to check function of the esophagus

pH impedance testing — a test that measures reflux in your esophagus

PillCam (video capsule) endoscopy — performed by having a patient swallow a pill containing a camera to capture images of the digestive tract

Small bowel enteroscopy — a diagnostic and treatment procedure performed during an examination of the small intestine

Stent placement

Variceal banding and ligation — uses elastic bands to stop bleeding or treat enlarged veins in the esophagus

The Digestive Care: Baton Rouge program has a GI Quality Improvement Consortium from GIQuIC, the nonprofit collaboration of the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

FAQs

A gastroenterologist is a specialist that studies the normal function and diseases of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon and rectum, pancreas, gallbladder, bile ducts and liver.

Your primary care provider might refer you to a gastroenterologist for any problem of the digestive system.