In a data driven world, it’ll become acutely obvious that our system is broken in terms of racial disparity. The drugs we have don’t work for all demographics. GI physician community is quite imbalanced in terms of race. Patients and future physicians will gravitate toward a more inclusive medical practice.It’s already apparent that social determinants of health (SDH) influence health outcomes. Whether we recognize it or not, diversity and inclusion affects all of gastroenterology. It’ll affect the future of GI. It’ll affect private practice GI — for sure.
Author: Praveen Suthrum
In a research career that has spanned 3 decades, John L. Marshall, MD, has participated in all phases of clinical trials. He was at the forefront of research into immunotherapy and targeted therapy for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers and helped to establish standards of care for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). He explored vaccines for CRC in the late 1990s. But his focus sharpened in 2006 after his wife, Liza Marshall, was diagnosed with stage IIIA near-inflammatory triple-negative breast cancer. She’s healthy today, but he was frustrated by the unanswered questions in cancer care. “We should be in more of…
Sebela Pharmaceuticals and CellMax Life have entered a strategic development and commercial collaboration partnership to accelerate the development of CellMax’s multimodal liquid biopsy blood test. An investment from Aflac Ventures and Artiman Ventures is financing the agreement, according to a March 23 press release. CellMax has also received series C financing for the test. CellMax’s multimodal liquid biopsy test, FirstSight, is a noninvasive screening method for detection of colorectal cancer and precancerous polyps.
In the postpandemic era, about half of all visits by cancer patients with oncologists could be successfully conducted via phone- and video-based telemedicine, according to a new poll of American cancer specialists. After the pandemic, an estimated 33% of patients could be seen using video visits, and 13% could be seen using phone visits; thus, 46% of patient visits could be performed remotely, the survey found. “A substantial fraction of patient visits could be effectively, safely conducted using telemedicine,” summarized the authors, led by Amye Tevaarwerk, MD, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
A novel blue dye marker was a more informative marker of gut microbiome function compared with traditional measures, according to a study published in Gut. “[Our] findings indicate that the blue dye method is a novel, inexpensive and scalable method of gut transit assessment providing valuable gut health and metabolic insights,” Francesco Asnicar, MD, from the department of cellular, computational and integrative biology at the University of Trento in Italy, and colleagues wrote. “Its wide use in both research and clinical settings could facilitate the advancement of our understanding of gut function and its determinants, as well as the complex interactions between gut physiology…
Researchers have drawn a direct line between the number of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) episodes patients have and their likelihood of experiencing sepsis or requiring colorectal surgery. Their review of a national database showed 43% of individuals with three or more CDI recurrences experienced sepsis and more than 10% required colorectal surgery. “While there is significant knowledge about the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of CDI, fewer clinical data exist from real-world analyses [about] complications of sepsis and bowel surgery, and the available data are not adequately generalizable to a broad U.S. population,” according to the researchers, led by Paul Feuerstadt, MD, an…
A new report from the American Medical Association lists ophthalmology and gastroenterology in the top five largest drops in CMS physician spending during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report found that in the first six months of 2020, the total estimated reduction in Medicare physician spending associated with the pandemic was $9.4 billion, a 19 percent drop. CMS spending on physician services dropped as much as 57 percent below expected pre-pandemic levels in April 2020. Spending partially recovered from the April low, but was still 12 percent less than expected by the end of June 2020.
A backlog of nearly half a million endoscopy procedures, essential for diagnosing gastrointestinal cancers and diseases, has built up during the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a new analysis of NHS England data led by UCL researchers. The study, published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, shows the number of endoscopies being performed in April 2020, the month following the first lockdown, fell by over 90%. By January 2021 researchers estimated the backlog was 476,000, and this figure could potentially rise to more than 870,000, should there be a further full or partial lockdown and/or a slow return to normality.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A nationwide clinical research study is underway that aims to validate that a blood test can be an easy and accurate option to detect colorectal cancer. The Colorectal Cancer Alliance (CCA) is partnering with Freenome, a South San Francisco-based biotech company, to recruit people for the study. They’re looking for 14,000 participants in the United States. The study is open to people ages 45 to 85 who are of average risk and who plan to undergo a routine colonoscopy. The blood test is paired with that traditional screening. There’s no medication or treatment required. Freenome plans to submit the…
In order to properly utilize cancer therapies for personalized care, adequate molecular testing must be performed in patients who are eligible for these therapies, with this necessity becoming more and more prevalent in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. The recent advances in immunotherapy have revolutionized cancer care and ushered in an era of true precision medicine. But to best utilize these extraordinary therapies, oncologists must be able to recognize specific biomarkers and oncologic drivers associated with an individual patient’s cancer diagnosis. This is true, in particular, for oncologists specializing in the care of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. In this issue of ONCOLOGY®,…