Gut Check on Gastroenterology Archive

July 21st, 2014

Hepatitis C Virus Infection: How Are You Managing the Cost of Newer Treatments?

Recently, we have seen remarkable progress in the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus — from long courses of injectable interferon plus ribavirin to short courses of once-daily oral sofosbuvir. Not only have these shorter, more-manageable regimens proven more effective, they are substantially better tolerated. So, what’s the problem? It seems to be […]

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March 14th, 2014

Dysphagia and Normal Endoscopy – Should We Biopsy Everyone?

The “discovery” of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) has added immensely to our understanding of many patients with dysphagia, and when endoscopic signs are present (furrowing, rings, white nodules, etc.), we should always confirm the diagnosis with endoscopic biopsies. However, many patients with EoE have a normal-appearing esophageal mucosa, and EoE would remain undetected if biopsies were […]

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July 16th, 2013

Follow-up after Barrett esophagus ablation: How do you do it, and when do you stop (if ever)?

We have shifted the paradigm of treating neoplastic Barrett esophagus (BE) away from a choice between intensive surveillance or surgery and towards endoscopic ablation. In the last 5 years, I have done hundreds of BE ablations using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), and many thousands have been performed worldwide. However, on post-ablation […]

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