GI & Endoscopy

Brennan M.R. Spiegel, MD, associate professor of medicine at UCLA, says although colonoscopy is the only colorectal cancer screening test that allows physicians to identify and remove polyps from the entire colon, the screening modality is still an "imperfect test."

Data from a recent study suggests patients with gallstones are at higher risk of mortality, particularly from cardiovascular disease and cancer, than patients without gallstones, according to an abstract published in Gastroenterology.

Physicians at the University of Cincinnati are conducting a seven-year trial to test a cholesterol drug for the prevention of recurring colorectal cancer in patients who have been surgically treated.

A combination of anti-delta-like 4 ligand and irinotecan significantly reduced colon cancer stem cells and increased tumor cell apoptosis in mutant KRAS tumors, according to a study published in Cancer Research.

Seventeen percent of hospitals offered computed tomographic colonography in 2008 compared to 13 percent in 2005, according to a study published in Journal of the American College of Radiology.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is conducting the first clinical trial to test surgery for Type 2 Diabetes in overweight or mildly obese patients, according to a news release.

Endoscopic removal of precancerous cells in patients with confirmed, high-risk Barrett's esophagus is recommended over surveillance, according to a medical position statement by the American Gastroenterological Institute.

Joe Zuerker, MD, Leann Serbousek, MD, Randy Kakish, MD, Karen Kindley, MD, and Vijay Prabhu, MD, all board-certified gastroenterologists, have joined the medical staff of Mercy Clinic in Oklahoma City, according to a NewsOK news report.

Researchers have developed a three-dimensional tissue model of the human intestine to study gastrointestinal diseases, according to a Cornell University Chronicle Online report.

Baylor Research Institute, the research arm of Baylor Health Care System, and Eureka Genomics have partnered to study the causes of colorectal cancer for the advancement of the disease's prevention, management and treatment, according to a news release.