The American College of Gastroenterology recently released a new clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of subepithelial lesions of the gastrointestinal tract (Am J Gastroenterol 2023;118[1]:46-58). GEN’s Sarah Tilyou spoke with lead author Brian C. Jacobson, MD, MPH, FACG, AGAF, FASGE, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, about the impetus for the guideline and what it means to GI practice.
GEN: What prompted the guideline?
Dr. Jacobson: This was a guideline about a topic that had been addressed by other organizations, such as the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (Gastrointest Endosc 2017;85[6]:1117-1132) and the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (Endoscopy 2022;54[4]:412-429), but had not been addressed before by the ACG. The ACG thought this was important because endoscopists fairly frequently find incidental small bumps in the wall of the stomach, esophagus or rectum and have questions about how to manage them.