UMass’ Division of Gastroenterology has completed its first Full-Thickness Resection Device (FTRD) procedure, marking an expansion in advanced endoscopic capabilities. During a routine screening colonoscopy, the team identified a neuroendocrine tumor and removed it using the FTRD system — an endoscopic platform that enables full-thickness resection of deep gastrointestinal lesions with simultaneous clip closure in a single, minimally invasive step.
Author: Abhay Panchal
Here are five gastroenterology and GI surgery physician additions recently reported by Becker’s:
As artificial intelligence tools become embedded in clinical workflows — from imaging analysis to predictive risk models — legal accountability remains largely unchanged: physicians remain the focal point of malpractice liability. Despite more than 1,300 FDA-authorized AI-enabled devices and sharply rising physician adoption, U.S. courts have yet to issue a malpractice verdict centered on AI itself. Legal experts note that traditional standards of care still apply. If harm occurs, the central question remains whether the clinician acted as a “reasonably prudent provider” — not whether the algorithm failed. This creates a tension for physicians: In gastroenterology, AI-assisted polyp detection offers…
A new editorial in the ACG Case Reports Journal argues that nutrition and lifestyle medicine must move from peripheral topics to core competencies in gastroenterology fellowship training. Despite counseling patients daily on GERD, IBD, MASLD, and functional bowel disorders, many GI physicians report limited formal training in nutrition. Surveys show fellows often feel underprepared to provide dietary guidance—even as evidence continues to mount that nutrition and lifestyle interventions can induce remission in IBD, improve reflux symptoms, and reduce long-term healthcare costs. The authors highlight international training models from the UK, Europe, and Australia, where structured nutrition curricula, competency tracking, and…
INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to develop consensus recommendations for the safe and appropriate use of liquid nitrogen spray cryotherapy in Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancer. METHODS: Statements were initially formulated and grouped into categories of indications, training, preprocedure, intraprocedure, and postprocedure recommendations, frequency/timing of repeat procedures, and contraindications. Two investigators assessed the strength of the evidence for each statement using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation methodology. Nineteen experts were invited to participate in a modified Delphi process. For statements that received >80% agreement, minor iterative edits were performed until there was unanimous consensus. If a threshold of 80%…
The story of gastroenterology in 2025 is no longer about productivity or reimbursement, it’s about manpower. Hospitals and practices across the U.S. are struggling to recruit, retain, or even temporarily staff the specialists who manage digestive diseases, perform colon cancer screening, and handle emergency procedures like ERCP. What we’re facing isn’t simply a staffing issue; it’s a structural shortage decades in the making.
Private equity investment in medical practices is resurging, but the era of simple “buy-and-build” roll-ups is giving way to a more operationally focused model. According to Bain & Company’s 2026 healthcare PE report, investors are now prioritizing operational excellence over pure scale — emphasizing workflow redesign, access optimization, physician alignment, analytics, and AI-enabled efficiency. Specialties drawing attention include: Healthcare private equity hit a record $191 billion in deal value globally in 2025, with healthcare IT and AI playing a major role in value creation strategies. The bottom line for physician groups: buyers are still active — but they’re looking for…
The U.S. FDA has granted Fast Track designation to pelareorep, an investigational immunotherapy from Oncolytics Biotech, in combination with bevacizumab and FOLFIRI for second-line treatment of KRAS-mutant, microsatellite-stable (MSS) metastatic colorectal cancer. The designation follows encouraging clinical data showing: These results compare favorably to historical outcomes with standard-of-care therapy alone in a population traditionally resistant to immunotherapy.
Austin Gastroenterology will open a new South Austin location on March 2, consolidating its former James Casey and Southwest clinics into a single, modern facility. The new Barton Ridge site is designed to improve care coordination, streamline services, and enhance patient experience through expanded space and improved accessibility. While local in scope, the move reflects a broader trend in gastroenterology: clinic consolidation to drive operational efficiency, strengthen brand presence, and centralize services in growing metro markets.
Natera has published clinical validation data for its Latitude™ tissue-free molecular residual disease (MRD) assay in colorectal cancer, reporting strong sensitivity, specificity, and prognostic value in one of the largest tfMRD datasets to date. In an analysis of 195 patients from the GALAXY trial, the methylation-based ctDNA test demonstrated: MRD positivity was strongly associated with worse outcomes and identified high-risk patients who derived meaningful benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, while MRD-negative patients saw little treatment advantage. The publication supports a MolDX submission and potential Medicare reimbursement pathway—marking an important step toward broader clinical integration of tissue-free MRD testing in colorectal cancer.…