A routine endoscope demonstration at a Texas hospital allegedly turned into a medical-device mishap when a pressurized water bottle connected to a CO₂ insufflator burst, causing severe hearing damage to a hospital employee wearing hearing aids. She is now seeking more than $1 million in damages, including medical costs, lost wages and pain and suffering. Fujifilm disputes responsibility, arguing that a hospital employee activated the CO₂ valve despite instructions to turn it off. The case raises an unusual but important question around safety protocols for equipment demonstrations and handling pressurized endoscopy systems.
Author: Abhay Panchal
Houston Methodist researchers developed an explainable machine-learning model that distinguishes Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and patients without IBD using electronic medical record data, addressing the limitations of relying on ICD-10 codes alone. In a manually validated cohort, the model increased the positive predictive value from 65% to 90% by combining 198 clinical variables—including medications, imaging, pathology, specialist involvement and procedures. A random-forest model performed best, while SHAP-based explainability showed which clinical features drove each prediction. The approach could help researchers build more accurate IBD cohorts and strengthen the reliability of large-scale EMR-based studies.
The No Surprises Act was supposed to lower healthcare costs. Instead, its payment dispute system has generated $22.4 billion in costs in just four years. A new Georgetown study found that 85% of disputes are won by physicians, but the vast majority of payouts are flowing to large provider groups, particularly in specialties such as radiology, emergency medicine, surgery and neurology. In 2025 alone, dispute volume rose 77%, while payment awards surged 264%, pushing total annual costs to $16.6 billion. The imbalance is striking: Radiology Partners, HaloMD and TeamHealth accounted for more than three-quarters of resolved dispute lines in 2025,…
PENTAX Medical is expanding its partnership with MAGENTIQ EYE beyond the U.S., bringing AI-assisted colonoscopy to EMEA, JAPAC and LATAM. The companies will integrate MAGENTIQ-COLO into PENTAX Medical’s INSPIRA and IMAGINA video processors, combining advanced endoscopic imaging with real-time AI for polyp detection, diagnostics and procedural quality support. The move builds on clinical data showing a 26% relative increase in adenoma detection rate and a 48% relative reduction in adenoma miss rate compared with standard colonoscopy in a large multicenter randomized trial. The expanded partnership could accelerate the adoption of AI-assisted colonoscopy by embedding these capabilities directly into widely used…
Medscape’s 2026 gastroenterologist well-being survey reveals a profession struggling to practice what it preaches. Forty percent of gastroenterologists report burnout, while 43% say they struggle to get consistent, sufficient sleep. Nearly all (98%) consider family and personal time important, yet 84% of those with children under 21 feel their kids need more of their time and attention. The trade-offs are striking: 64% would accept a pay cut for more family and personal time, while 77% say hobbies and outside interests are important to their well-being. And although 85% of gastroenterologists in relationships describe their marriage as good or very good,…
This multicentre, three-armed non-inferiority randomised controlled trial (RCT) included patients with IBS (Rome IV, 16–75 years). Patients were randomised to 12-week in-person therapist-delivered hypnotherapy, smartphone-based self-guided hypnotherapy or online self-guided psychoeducation. The primary endpoint was abdominal pain response per Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition (≥30% reduction from baseline in weekly average of worst daily abdominal pain in at least 2 out of 4 weeks follow-up). The non-inferiority margin was 10%. Secondary endpoints included ≥50 points IBS-symptom severity scale reduction and changes in psychological symptoms.
A real-world study of 219 adults with suspected IBS found that patients who underwent IBS-Smart and/or Trio-Smart testing had lower rates of colonoscopy and upper endoscopy than those who received neither test. The biggest difference was seen in patients who received both tests, with colonoscopy performed in 27.3% vs. 60.7% of the untested group. The tested groups also had substantially lower observed diagnostic and gastroenterology office-visit costs, averaging $360–$385 per patient per month vs. $960 among untested patients. The authors suggest that targeted noninvasive testing could help streamline the IBS diagnostic workup and reduce downstream testing, while emphasizing that the…
A 21-year population-level analysis from Spain’s Basque Country found that an organized fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening program was associated with a 50.1% reduction in colorectal cancer mortality among adults aged 50–69. The program invited average-risk adults to complete FIT every two years, with tests mailed directly to their homes. The study, covering 2004–2024, found that overall age-standardized CRC mortality fell by 29.6%, from 32.8 to 23.1 deaths per 100,000 people. More than 70% of screen-detected cancers were diagnosed at stage I or II, while average screening participation reached 70.1% and adherence to colonoscopy after a positive FIT exceeded 91%.…
Private equity investment in physician practice management companies is on track to fall by roughly half in 2026, signaling a significant shift in the healthcare M&A market. According to PitchBook data cited by STAT, physician practice management deals have declined from a peak of 851 deals in 2021 to 105 in the first half of 2026. The slowdown comes as more than a dozen states have introduced laws increasing oversight of private equity transactions in health care. The decline reflects growing regulatory scrutiny around PE ownership of physician practices, as well as broader changes in the investment environment. These laws…
A systematic review found that AI is being explored across nearly every area of GI motility diagnostics, from esophageal disorders and gastroparesis to intestinal transit and anorectal dysfunction. The review analyzed 90 studies and found that AI could automate analysis, improve diagnostic accuracy and standardize interpretation, but most models have not yet undergone external validation. The strongest body of evidence was in esophageal motility, where AI models classified disorders with accuracies of 81%–98% and showed promise in interpreting pH-impedance and FLIP studies. In gastroduodenal disorders, AI was used to analyze gastric emptying and electrogastrography, including models that detected delayed gastric…