GI & Endoscopy

Private equity involvement in gastroenterology is skyrocketing, with groups such as Miami-based Gastro Health adding four practices in Ohio and Central and Southern Florida in the past three months. 

Micro-Tech Endoscopy launched its LesionHunter cold snare, a cold snare with an ultra-thin nitinol wire designed to advance polypectomy, the company said Nov. 18. 

President Joe Biden on Nov. 19 will have a colonoscopy as part of an annual physical exam, The Hill reports.

Construction will begin next year on an MNGI Digestive Health endoscopy center in Maple Grove, Minn.

Madison, Wis.-based Exact Sciences — a firm known for Cologuard, its colorectal cancer screening pill — is partnering with Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health for research on a new multicancer earlier detection test, according to a Nov. 18 Yahoo Finance report.

Bariatric surgery can reduce the risk of serious liver conditions in patients with advanced liver disease by as much as 88 percent, according to a Cleveland Clinic study published Nov. 11 in JAMA.

Gastro Health signed a definitive agreement to partner with North Miami, Fla.-based Digestive Care Center, the medical group said Nov. 17 in a news release shared with Becker's.

Medtronic's PillCam Small Bowel 3 system for remote endoscopy procedures received 510(k) clearance from the FDA, the company said Nov. 15. 

Obesity costs the U.S. healthcare system $147 billion per year, according to the CDC. The disease touches many areas of healthcare and accounts for a sizable portion of GI surgeons' cases. 

The United States Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer updated its screening guidelines to recommend a colorectal cancer screening for average-risk individuals ages 45-49, the task force said Nov. 15.