Digestive Disease Week 2007 Report: Part 1

Part 1 of a series of reports, highlighting a selection of key sessions held during Digestive Disease Week (DDW) earlier this year, has been released. Close to 17,000 physicians, researchers and academics attending the DDW meeting held in Washington DC to learn about the latest advances in gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery; prevention, diagnosis and treatment of digestive disorders; and cutting-edge technological advances.

A clinical symposium was held on controversies in colon polyp surveillance. Associate Professor Peter Katelaris reports on the symposium. Part one dealt with medico-legal risk, with speaker John Bond focussing on interval cancer – cancer that arises between planned surveillance intervals – and the steps that proceduralists can take to limit their medico-legal risk. The second part was headed by Jerry Waye, who shared his experience of difficult polypectomy. The last speaker, Phillip Schoefeld, dealt with the latest American guidelines for surveillance intervals and the implications of a rising demand for colonoscopy in Australia.

Dr Martin Weltman provides an overview of the multiple presentations on endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and ablation therapy for Barrett’s with high-grade dysplasia (HGD) in Barrett’s oesophagus that were held during Digestive Disease Week, focussing on the currently available options for treatment. Several ablation therapies were remarked upon. Dr Lightdale of Columbia University Medical Center discussed the utilisation of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for HGD in Barrett’s oesophagus, and Dr Wang of the Mayo Clinic presented a study evaluating the use of endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) to treat localised HGD and early cancers arising in Barrett’s mucosa.

Finally, Dr Sanjay Nandurkar provides a review of a large international multicentre study on sacral nerve stimulation for the long-term management of severe refractory constipation.