Northern Virginia gets a unique liver & pancreatic specialist at Inova Fair Oaks

Inova Fair Oaks welcomes George Younan, MD, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon

For a certain population of liver disease patients, Northern Virginia now offers a treatment option that would have formerly required traveling a long distance for care.

“We do it for a specific population of patients who do not tolerate surgery,” says George Younan, MD, Inova’s new hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon. Dr. Younan says, “Many people can’t undergo big dissections of the liver because they have liver disease.”

Dr. Younan, who previously completed a residency at Inova Fairfax Hospital, brings to the system a highly specialized form of surgery for those living with several types of liver and pancreatic diseases. He was fellowship-trained in hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee – and as of his hiring, was the only surgeon in Northern Virginia with his particular background trained to perform these procedures.

Dr. Younan specializes in minimally invasive surgical procedures designed to remove cancerous or pre-cancerous tumors on the liver, pancreas, gall bladder and other organs. Using ablative techniques, Dr. Younan burns the tumors rather than resecting them, allowing for a much quicker and less painful procedure.

In the past, patients with cancerous or pre-cancerous tumors on the hepatobiliary organs were required to travel long distances to receive care. Being able to offer this surgery is highly beneficial to the patients, according to Inova Growth Officer Elise Powers. “Being able to manage these cancers locally further enhances the comprehensive cancer services provided on the Inova Fair Oaks Medical Campus,” says Powers.

“When people are seeking care, especially with the surgeries that [Dr. Younan] does, it is often a pretty complex inpatient surgery,” Powers says. “It requires a hospital stay, and if you’re going to be in the hospital for a few days, you want to be close to home. We are thrilled to be able to offer this level of care to our community.”