Thanks to the generous support of AGA member Harvey S. Young, MD, we are now accepting applications for the new AGA-Dr. Harvey Young Education and Development Foundation’s Young Guts Scholar Program. A gastroenterologist for over 20 years, Dr. Young shares AGA’s vision for strengthening the pipeline of future leaders in GI research from diverse backgrounds.
Author: Praveen Suthrum
Cancer is personal to nearly every family, including my own. Each year, more than 50,000 families across the country lose a loved one to colorectal cancer — the fourth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in America. The toll it exacts is immeasurable, but when we detect colorectal cancer early, we can save lives and deliver hope. During National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we raise awareness of this dreaded disease and renew our commitment to ending cancer as we know it.
Simple, blood-based screening for colorectal cancer would greatly facilitate screening compliance, but to be clinically meaningful it must detect cancer across multiple clinical parameters. A multimodal circulating tumor DNA test, described at the 2021 annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, may do just that, researchers from the Republic of Korea reported. “Our multimodal circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) colorectal cancer screening test has clinically meaningful sensitivity across multiple clinical parameters, most notably in patients with early-stage asymptomatic disease and early-stage low-grade tumors,” said Hee Cheol Kim, MD, a professor at Samsung Medical Center, in Seoul, the Republic of Korea.
Hello. I’m Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. The colonoscopic surveillance of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a standard practice recommendation, given their increased risk for colorectal cancer. The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) recently provided guidance for refining the endoscopic surveillance and management of colorectal dysplasia in IBD. Most recently, Dr Uma Mahadevan, an expert in the field of IBD, provided her top 10 recommendations in this area, which I think provide some wonderful granularity that build on the AGA consensus recommendations. Here are the highlights from Dr Mahadevan’s work.
In February, Amazon Care rolled out its virtual health services nationwide and said its in-person services would be rolled out in more than 20 new cities in 2022. The announcement was one of many efforts to disrupt the traditional healthcare that the industry has witnessed from tech and retail companies over the past decade. Services like Amazon Care have the potential to fill care gaps and improve Americans’ health maintenance by prioritizing convenience and offering services such as telehealth, primary care and prescriptions. Here, four health system innovation executives explain what they think disruptors like Amazon Care mean for the healthcare industry.
GASTROSWOT is a strategic analysis of the current and projected states of the different subspecialties in gastroenterology that aims to provide guidance for research, clinical, and financial planning in gastroenterology. We executed a consensus-based international strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Four general coordinators, six field coordinators, and 12 experts participated in the study. SWOTs were provided for the following fields: neurogastroenterology, functional gastrointestinal disorders, and upper gastrointestinal diseases; inflammatory bowel disease; pancreatology and biliary diseases; endoscopy; gastrointestinal oncology; and hepatology. The GASTROSWOT analysis highlights the following in the current state of the field of gastroenterology: the incidence and complexity of several gastrointestinal diseases, including malignancies,…
Newswise — CHICAGO — Rush University System for Health (RUSH) is the first hospital system in the United States to offer the artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted colonoscopy device for its patients in every screening procedure room. The Medtronic GI Genius™ intelligent endoscopy systems were installed for immediate use at RUSH in February. The new AI technology helps detect colorectal polyps of varying shapes and sizes and alerts gastroenterologists to their presence in real time. The device looks for regions with visual characteristics that are compatible with known types of mucosal abnormalities. Polyps of concern are highlighted on the device’s screen and…
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront inequities and vulnerabilities that have always existed in our healthcare system. Yet, as the pandemic persists, policies that further limit access to care for underserved populations continue to be pushed forward. For about a year now, providers have been ringing alarm bells about devastating cuts to Medicare funding for specialty care services directed by CMS. The 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule issued in November proposes reimbursement cuts of 20% that will harm a large variety of office-based specialists treating cancer, vascular and heart disease, dialysis patients, and more.
According to the International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders, irritable bowel syndrome is estimated to effect 10% to 15% of the population worldwide, making it the most prevalent functional GI disorder. While the exact pathogenesis of IBS remains largely unknown, scientific evidence points toward disturbances in gut, brain and nervous system interaction that can cause changes to normal bowel function and produce symptoms ranging from mild inconvenience to severe debilitation.
Intensive treatment for patients with Crohn’s disease showed no safety differences compared to the current standard of care, according to a trial published in the journal Gastroenterology. The findings offer some additional flexibility for treating patients with Crohn’s disease, according to Stephen Hanauer, MD, the Clifford Joseph Barborka Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a co-author of the study.