The updated STRIDE-III recommendations refine the international treat-to-target framework for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, incorporating new evidence on inflammatory outcomes and patient-centered measures. The update draws on a systematic review that included 1,018 studies, alongside surveys of adult and pediatric gastroenterology experts. The framework distinguishes three categories of treatment targets. Actionable targets include clinical response and remission, C-reactive protein normalization, fecal calprotectin within the target range, and endoscopic remission. Adjunctive targets, such as urgency, histological remission in ulcerative colitis, transmural remission in Crohn’s disease, and growth, help guide treatment optimization and monitoring but do not necessarily require a change…
Author: Abhay Panchal
A retrospective analysis of more than 30,000 screening participants, presented at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting, found that fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) was less sensitive for colorectal cancer (CRC) and advanced precancerous lesions in women than in men at the standard positivity threshold. Using a threshold of 100 ng/mL, FIT detected 62.0% of CRC cases in women, compared with 77.4% in men. Sensitivity for advanced precancerous lesions was also lower in women (20.2% versus 25.8%). The difference was particularly pronounced for proximal CRC, where sensitivity was 50.0% in women and 80.8% in men. Women also…
Greg O’Grady, professor of surgery at the University of Auckland and co-founder and CEO of Alimetry, left surgical practice in 2021 to develop technology aimed at improving the diagnosis of functional stomach disorders. His company’s Gastric Alimetry is a prescription, wearable test that maps the stomach’s electrical activity through 64 adhesive electrodes placed on the upper abdomen. During a roughly four-and-a-half-hour assessment that includes a standard meal, the system records gastric electrical rhythms and correlates them with patient-reported symptoms—without endoscopy, tubes or radiation. The technology is designed to help investigate symptoms such as chronic nausea, vomiting, early fullness and post-meal…
Jiro Health’s Gastroenterology Practice Economics Benchmark 2026 highlights two financial pressures facing gastroenterology practices: differences in reimbursement linked to practice scale and substantial payment reductions for additional procedures performed during the same visit. The analysis found that 20.7% of additional GI procedures received less than 25% of their standard standalone rate, the highest share among the specialties measured. Gastroenterologists typically received approximately 32%–38% of the standard rate for a second procedure, while 28.4% of GI visits included two or more procedures. The report attributed much of the reduction to Medicare’s same-scope payment rule, which accounts for shared procedural work, and…
Throne Science presented its first clinical validation study at the 2026 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting, evaluating an AI model that classifies stool using the Bristol Stool Scale (BSS). The study compared the model’s classifications with assessments from five gastroenterologists using 278 real-world images collected from beta testers across all seven BSS categories. For the most common stool type, BSS Type 4, the AI model achieved 89.6% exact-match agreement, compared with a 59.9% human-to-human agreement baseline. Throne’s toilet-mounted sensor is designed to passively track bowel movements, hydration and urinary function, providing continuous data that could help clinicians…
A modeling study presented at the 2026 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting suggests that Guardant Health’s Shield blood-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening test could avert more CRC deaths than stool-based tests when real-world screening adherence and follow-up colonoscopy completion are factored into lifetime projections. Among 1,000 simulated individuals aged 45–75, blood-based screening was projected to result in 679 lifetime colonoscopies and 12 CRC deaths averted, compared with 113 colonoscopies and six deaths averted with fecal immunochemical testing (FIT), and 326 colonoscopies and nine deaths averted with multitarget stool DNA testing. These are modeled projections, not outcomes observed…
Monitored anesthesia care (MAC) has largely replaced endoscopist-directed conscious sedation for routine outpatient GI endoscopy in the United States. However, Megan Adams, MD, JD, MSc, of the University of Michigan, argues that the shift warrants renewed scrutiny because its clinical benefits for low-risk patients remain uncertain, while costs and some complication risks are higher. A 2017 study estimated that MAC use in low-risk patients was associated with approximately $1.5 billion in excess annual spending among Medicare and commercially insured patients. Research has also reported associations between MAC and increased risks of complications, including aspiration and hospitalization, although the absolute difference…
Two machine learning approaches demonstrated 97.5% agreement in identifying colorectal neoplasia across 5,000 colonoscopy reports, according to research presented at the 2026 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting. The retrospective study compared a random forest model with a large language model (LLM) for automated reporting of adenoma detection rate (ADR). Among 123 discordant cases requiring manual review, the random forest model missed two of 16 tubular adenomas, compared with seven missed by the LLM. Both models missed four of 47 sessile serrated lesions. However, the random forest model generated substantially more false positives, incorrectly classifying 92 cases as…
An updated version of Freenome’s SimpleScreen CRC blood test demonstrated improved sensitivity for advanced precancerous lesions (APLs), increasing from 13.7% with the previous version to 18.2%, while maintaining 80.4% sensitivity for colorectal cancer (CRC). The late-breaking findings were presented at the 2026 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting. The updated test incorporates assay modifications to improve signal detection and refinements to its algorithm for identifying circulating tumor DNA. Validation drew on the PREEMPT CRC study, which enrolled 48,995 average-risk adults aged 45–85 undergoing screening colonoscopy. In the evaluable cohort, specificity was 90.0% among participants with no colonoscopic findings.…
U.K.-based Microbiotica has raised £36 million (€43 million) in the first close of its Series C financing round, led by the British Business Bank, to advance MB310, its investigational microbiome therapy for ulcerative colitis (UC), into Phase 2. Other investors include Tencent, IP Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Flerie Invest and Seventure Partners, alongside existing Series B investors. MB310 is a once-daily capsule containing eight live bacterial strains selected from research into fecal microbiota transplantation. The therapy is designed to establish beneficial bacteria in the gut and potentially support remission without directly suppressing the immune system. In the Phase 1b COMPOSER-1…