Gastrointestinal Associates (GIA) is very involved in research to determine the effectiveness of the treatments of gastrointestinal diseases. This involvement is a direct benefit to the patients of GIA.
Recently, GIA and I participated in a study of one particular treatment of Barrett’s esophagus, a condition that can lead to cancer of that organ. The study was published in May of this year in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (PDF, 2.1 mb), and GIA was one of 19 centers across the United States participating in the research. The study showed that radiofrequency ablation (thermal destruction) of abnormal cells eradicated those cells without damaging the esophagus.
Overall, GIA’s participation in research such as this benefits our patients. First, our physicians and staff are involved in and knowledgeable of the latest and best ways to treat your GI condition, allowing us to make even more accurate diagnoses.
Many medical advances help contain the cost of illness, both to the individual and health care provider. Moreover, as research knowledge helps keep people well and employed, their families enjoy a higher standard of living.
Medical advances help patients live longer and with less pain and suffering. Remember when the best option to treat ulcers was surgery? Now, we have new drugs to help control the problem. Remember when a colon polyp had to be removed by surgery? Now we do that through a scope.
Research has uncovered factors in our lifestyles that can help us change risky behavior in order to stay healthy. For example, we have found that a high fiber diet is important to maintaining digestive health.
Cancer screenings such as the colonoscopies we perform regularly at GIA allow us to use early detection to more effectively prevent and treat colon cancer.
Finally, medical research allows patients to become ex-patients and continue to contribute to society to the best of their abilities.
You can find new gastrointestinal treatments and procedures listed elsewhere on this site.
Our gastroenterologists are medical specialists who are broadly trained in internal medicine and who thereafter take special training in diagnosing and treating diseases of the digestive system. All GIA physicians are Board certified. We update our knowledge each year in specialized training and at professional meetings, as well as by independent reading.
My fellow physicians and our staff members consider it a privilege to help advance knowledge about digestive medicine and ways to keep people well. I am proud to be associated with our team and be part of the important research in our field.