BOSTON – Organ-sparing resection techniques that remove lesions from the esophagus, stomach, and colon are being developed, Amrita Sethi, MD, said in a video interview at the 2018 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.
Dr. Sethi, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, said these techniques improve patient outcomes by maintaining organ integrity, whereas older techniques often led to removal of large amounts of tissue around lesions. And while organ-sparing techniques reduce recovery time and hospital stays, training and reimbursement for these procedures remain problematic. As much as new endoscopic package devices are needed from industry to make these procedures easier, automated or artificial intelligence is needed to help make the decisions on when these techniques are applicable. Reimbursement structures are needed so that these procedures make financial sense, she noted.
We live in a health care system now, Dr. Sethi said, in which benign polyps of the colon are being sent for surgical resection when what is really needed is referral for more advanced endoscopic treatment. This is a matter of training, and perhaps showing through comparative trials that organ-sparing techniques cost less and improve patient outcomes.