Seeking innovative tech initiatives to execute within the Canadian healthcare ecosystem Challenge application period runs June 1 to June 24, 2023 TORONTO, June 1, 2023 /CNW/ – Takeda Canada Inc. (“Takeda”) is pleased to announce the launch of the Takeda Canada Digital Health Innovation Challenge, an initiative to identify disruptive digital health solutions and explore new partnerships to accelerate and transform patient care in Canada. In the second challenge, Takeda is collaborating with Plug and Play Alberta (“Plug and Play”) to help broaden our reach and to harness their expertise in connecting innovative tech initiatives with large corporations to propel…
Author: Abhay Panchal
Patient Case A 36-year-old woman presents with persistent abdominal pain and constipation (Table 1). Upon inquiry, she states that she has experienced abdominal and bowel-related symptoms since she was in college. Her abdominal symptoms include intermittent cramps that typically occur in the left lower quadrant, nearly constant bloating that worsens during menstrual periods, and frequent episodes of constipation. She reports that her hard, small stools are associated with a feeling of incomplete emptying. She typically moves her bowels every other day. She denies seeing blood in her stool, fever, or unexplained weight loss, and she is not awakened at night…
Scientific evidence, not popular ideas, should drive probiotic and prebiotic recommendations in clinical settings. Globally, evidence is continually emerging on how probiotics and prebiotics can be effectively used in patient care but health care professionals often struggle to find out where the evidence stands for a particular condition. The World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) recently published an updated guideline document, aimed at helping gastroenterologists and other physicians understand appropriate clinical applications for probiotics or prebiotics. The guideline was created with contributions from experts in gastroenterology, probiotics, and prebiotics, with the efforts co-led by experts from the International Scientific Association for Probiotics…
New research is evolving that may revolutionize the way we treat colorectal cancer. About 15% to 20% of patients with localized colon cancer and 5% to 7% of patients with rectal cancer have mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) (World J Gastrointest Oncol 2020;12[8]:808-832), making them less responsive to conventional chemotherapy but highly responsive to immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors. Studies already have shown the benefit of immunotherapy in patients with MMRD advanced-stage CRC (N Engl J Med 2020;383[23]:2207-2218). Recently published data demonstrate that immunotherapy also could be helpful for patients with localized CRC with MMRD, with trials reporting complete regression of such…
Gastroenterologists’ average annual income rose from $453,000 in 2021 to $501,000 in 2022 — an increase of 11%, second only to oncologists’ 13% bump, according to the 2023 Medscape Gastroenterologist Compensation Report. In terms of 2022 income, gastroenterologists finished fifth among the 29 specialties in the Medscape survey of more than 10,000 physicians. The top earners were plastic surgeons ($619,000), orthopedists ($573,000), cardiologists ($507,000), and urologists ($506,000). Read More
CHICAGO – The regular use of aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was found to be associated with a lower risk of early-onset conventional and advanced adenomas. The authors say that aspirin could prove to be an effective strategy in preventing early-onset colorectal cancer cases. “What we have here is a 15% reduction for all adenomas and 33% for those with advanced histology, which to us is quite substantial. We have not seen that much [33%] in previous studies so I would think it definitely needs more study,” said Cassandra D. Fritz, MD, MPHS, a gastroenterologist with Washington University, St.…
Tomorrow, America’s Physician Groups (APG) will kick-off its Annual Spring Conference “Going the Distance” in San Diego with breakout sessions focused on wide ranging operational issues and 3 general sessions that address restoring trust in the profession, lessons from the pandemic and Medicare Advantage. Next Thursday, the American Medical Association (AMA) will kick off its 5-day House of Delegates session in Chicago with a plethora of resolutions and votes on the docket and committee reports on issues like the ethical impact of private equity on physicians in private equity owned practices, health insurer payment integrity and much more.These meetings are…
Endoscopists’ predictions of polyp histology were more accurate than those of a computer-aided diagnostic tool (CADx) in real-time colonoscopy, but overall accuracy was highest when the endoscopists and CADx agreed, according to a new study. “Our results support the role of CADx as an independent second reader in a clinical setting, which can improve the performance of the endoscopist in achieving accurate optical diagnosis of polyp histology in vivo,” write James Weiquan Li, MD, of Changi General Hospital in the Singapore Health Services in Singapore, and colleagues. Still, more research is needed to establish the tool’s role during real-time colonoscopy,…
Sixty-one percent of gastroenterologists participate in a fee-for-service payment model, according to Medscape’s “Gastroenterologist Compensation Report” for 2023. The data comes from a Medscape “Physician Compensation Report” for 2023 that surveyed 10,011 physicians across more than 29 specialties about their income, work hours, job satisfaction and more from Oct. 7 to Jan. 17. Here is the percentage of gastroenterologist participation in various payment models, according to Medscape:Fee-for-service: 61 percentEpisodes of care payments: 13 percent Read More
It sounds like a simple solution to a complicated problem: Find out what kind of obesity you have based on a one-time genetic saliva test. Then you and your doctor can get a better idea if anti-obesity drugs or other treatments are more likely to work for you. The goal of creating the obesity types and test is to increase chances you’ll lose weight and improve your health and well-being, vs. a one-strategy-fits-all approach. It’s what Mayo Clinic researchers had in mind when they created four phenotypes of obesity. Read More