As I write this note, I’m beginning to wonder what GI care means anymore. Just a few years ago, we were so sure of the role of the gastroenterologist in clinical care. Today, a flurry of digital innovations are urging the clinician to rethink her/his role. Surgeon and scientist and CEO of Alimetry, Professor Greg O’Grady reaffirmed how exponential technologies could make current clinical skills relatively obsolete.
Gastric Alimetry is a FDA approved device (below) that non-invasively senses motility of the stomach. Sensors capture activity of the stomach, relay it to an app, advanced algorithms spot patterns and generate a report for the clinician. It’s fascinating technology that’s been in the works at the University of Auckland, New Zealand for a decade.
Interestingly, in my book Scope Forward, I briefly talked about researchers working on a wearable device to track electrical activity of the digestive system and how algorithms would flag abnormalities (Page 51). Today it’s a commercial reality. The future is indeed coming at us faster than we think!
Don’t miss this one.
◘ “Just like the heart, the stomach has its pacemaker”
◘ Why does the gut use electrical signals?
◘ What kind of GI diseases are detected?
◘ How does the wearable device by Alimetry work?
◘ How are the electrical signals detected from the stomach categorized?
◘ “We actually had 10 years of research going on”
◘ “We are a University spin-out company”
◘ How can you buy this device?
◘ What kind of analysis is Alimetry doing from the data collected?
◘ What is the future of gastroenterology from Greg’s view?
◘ “As clinicians, some of our skills may become relatively obsolete”