December 17th, 2009
Ulcer Bleeding: Tricks of the Trade!
One of the difficulties we face when performing urgent endoscopy on a patient with upper GI bleeding is to visualize the mucosa and the lesion when blood is still present in the stomach. IV erythromycin can help by evacuating blood from the stomach, but it has become increasingly scarce; we haven’t had any available at […]
December 11th, 2009
Should Propofol Be Used for Routine Endoscopy?
Propofol is a remarkable drug that has revolutionized sedation for patients undergoing endoscopic procedures. It can produce rapid and, when necessary, deep sedation, and its effects can be reversed within seconds to minutes. Because it has proven to be more effective than hypnotics (such as versed) and narcotics (such as fentanyl), an estimated 40% of […]
December 7th, 2009
Gatorade and Miralax: A Better Bowel Prep?
Only about half of U.S. adults have undergone colonoscopy screening for colorectal neoplasia. To reach our goal of screening 100% of the adult population, we must find ways not only to make the procedure more accessible and affordable for patients, but also more tolerable, especially in terms of bowel preparation. Intolerance of the gold-standard bowel […]