hepat(o)- Occasionally hepar-.
[Greek hēpar, hēpat-, liver.]
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver; a hepatoma is a cancer of its cells; hepatectomy (Greek ektomē, excision) is its removal; hepatocytes are the principal cell type in it; hepatology is its study; an hepatotoxic agent is damaging to liver cells; the usual adjective referring to the liver is hepatic. The anticoagulant drug heparin is so called because it was first isolated from the liver. Some terms refer to the liver plus another part of the body: hepatojugular, hepatoduodenal.