Are you disposing of your endoscopy unit’s medical waste properly? A study from Gastroenterology Nursing suggests that the answer is probably no. A survey of more than 1,000 endoscopy professionals showed that 58% of staff members and 65% of gastroenterologists handled simple endoscopy accessories as regulated medical waste (RMW) instead of regular trash, while 27% of respondents discarded endoscopic accessories as sharps—although they are not considered sharps (Gastroenterol Nurs 2017;40[1]:13-18). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration defines RMW as:
Author: Praveen Suthrum
Pharmacological trials in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) should include a run-in period of at least 2 weeks and dosing of no more than once or twice a day in order to minimize the pooled placebo response rate, a new meta-analysis suggested. More than a quarter of IBS patients had a placebo response on the measure of global improvement, with multiple moderators associated with the response. Identifying these moderators could improve the design of IBS drug trials, said Michelle Bosman, MD, of Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues.
Patients needing gastrointestinal cancer resections should consider undergoing procedures at high-volume regional medical centers like the top-ranked hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. An article published March 19 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons examined whether the U.S. News & World Report rankings predicted better outcomes for complex gastrointestinal cancer resection procedures. Study authors analyzed data from the Vizient database for patients who underwent complex GI cancer resections at 42 top-ranked hospitals and 197 unranked hospitals. Study authors found: 1. The mean case volume was four-fold higher at the top ranked hospitals than at the unranked hospitals. The ranked hospitals reported…
Although the development of secondary cancerous growths, called metastasis, is the primary cause of death in most cancers, the cellular changes that drive it are poorly understood. In a new study, published in Genome Biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a new modeling approach to better understand how tumors become aggressive. “Researchers have identified several cellular pathways that change when a tumor becomes aggressive. However, it is difficult to understand how they affect the tumor,” said Steven Offer, an assistant professor of molecular pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at Mayo Clinic, Minnesota. “We wanted to develop a simple…
A typically high-volume endoscopy unit in Italy saw a significant reduction in procedures in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research presented at ESGE Days. Sebastian M. Milluzzo, MD, from Fondazione Poliambulanza Istituto Ospedaliero in Brescia, Italy, said that since Italy was the first European country to experience a COVID-19 outbreak, hospitals there were seriously impacted in early 2020.
Christopher Lieu, MD:Welcome to this contemporary Cancer Network™ K-Cast program titled “MRD and Decision-Making in Early Stage Colorectal Cancer.” I am Dr Christopher Lieu, from the University of Colorado in Denver. Our discussion is going to focus on optimizing the use of MRD [minimal residual disease] as a tool to guide decision-making in the adjuvant setting for patients at risk for recurrence. Welcome, and let’s begin. Kristie L. Kahl:What is the role of tumor genomic profiling in colorectal cancer? Where are we, and how did we get here?
Hello. I’m Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) just released their 2021 clinical guidelines for colorectal cancer screening. To develop their evidence-based recommendations, the authors identified several key questions and then surveyed the latest evidence on the topic. I wanted to give you some highlights from their work in order to guide your clinical judgment and care. It is estimated that in 2020 in the United States there were approximately 148,000 new cases of colorectal cancer and 53,000 deaths resulting from this disease; this shows…
Tests that can screen for colorectal cancer have been one of the greatest successes in cancer prevention and early detection. These tests, along with new treatments, are the reason why the death rate from colorectal cancer has decreased in the United States since the 1970s. A landmark study by the Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) Division of Research, published in 2018, demonstrated that Kaiser Permanente’s fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening program reduced colorectal cancer deaths among KPNC members by 52%. Today, more than 80% of eligible Kaiser Permanente members are screened for colorectal cancer each year. Nationwide, about 69% of adults age 50…
During COVID-19 surges last year, ASCs and hospitals worked together in new ways to care for patients across the U.S. They shared resources and collaborated on protocols for performing safe surgical procedures to ensure the continuity of care for patients who didn’t have COVID-19. But will the harmony last? Becker’s heard from seven ASC owners and operators about whether the pandemic changed their relationship with local hospitals and what they anticipate for the future. “In my perspective, our relations with the hospital grew better during the pandemic,” said Trina Cole, administrator of Saint Luke’s Surgicenter Lee’s Summit (Mo.). “We needed…
Salix Pharmaceuticals, a gastrointestinal-focused specialty pharmaceutical company, announced the launch of its website, GastroHub for Advanced Practice Providers, that provides resources and educational materials for GI nurse practitioners and physician assistants. The website is specifically for NPs and PAs who treat patients with irritable bowel syndrome and hepatic encephalopathy, according to a March 30 release. This is Salix’s third online educational resource for improving patient care in the past year.