Feature Articles: Gastroenterology
Gastroenterology's Progress
Todd L. Sack, M.D.,
Dr. Sack is a Gastroenterologist at The
Borland-Groover Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
Gastroenterology and hepatology have been touched by both societal trends and technological developments. The epidemic of childhood obesity is presented in the article by Linda Russell from the Nemours Clinic. Dr. George Wilson provides a primer for the primary care office on gastroesophageal acid reflux (GER), another condition with marked increase prevalence in the past decade.
New national guidelines for screening for colon cancer offer the real prospect that physicians will eliminate this cancer as a national tragedy over the next ten years. These guidelines, and their particular pertinence to high-risk groups such as the African-American community, are described in the articles by Dr. Harmon and Dr. Misra. Genetic testing for colon cancer provides a new option for identifying high risk syndromes and individuals.
A real breakthrough in our understanding of chronic pancreatitis is the knowledge that many patients have mutations in the CFTR gene, the gene which when mutated also is responsible for causing cystic fibrosis. This and other mutations associated with pancreatic disease is review by Dr. Michele Bishop of the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville.
Remarkable new technologies offer improved therapies and glimpses of the gut, the biliary system, and the pancreas. MRCP, endoscopic suturing, endoscopic ultrasound, virtual colonoscopy, and capsule endoscopy are tools that simply did not exist in practice a decade ago. These are reviewed in articles by Dr. Etzkorn and by Drs. Deal, Lambiase and Li.
Jacksonville has become a world-renowned center for liver transplantation. This significant development is presented by Dr. Winston Hewitt from the Mayo Clinic group. Finally, there is hope now for patients with a common and deadly cholestatic liver disease, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, which I review in the last article of this issue.
I hope that with this June and July issue of Jacksonville Medicine you will be as dazzled as I have been by the accomplishments of the past ten years.