Gastroenterology News

• US Employers Hire Virtual Providers as Weight-loss Drug Gatekeepers U.S. employers facing surging costs from paying for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and similar obesity drugs are hiring virtual healthcare providers like Teladoc to implement...
  Reuters Health Information, December 13, 2023
• US Panel Recommends Children With Obesity Start Counseling From Age 6 Children with obesity should receive intensive counseling to promote healthy diet and exercise habits starting at age 6, according to a draft recommendation issued by a...
  Reuters Health Information, December 12, 2023
• EU Publishes Its First List Of More Than 300 Critical Medicines, Vaccines The European Commission published its first list of critical medicines, as part of a wider overhaul of laws governing the 136 billion euro ($148 billion) pharmaceuticals...
  Reuters Health Information, December 12, 2023
• More Evidence Modified Atkins Diet Lowers Seizures in Adults Older patients with epilepsy who are resistant to antiseizure medication might benefit from adding this diet to their treatment regimen.
  Medscape Medical News, December 11, 2023
• Antiobesity Drugs in OA: Slow, Moderate Approach Deemed Best Rapid weight loss with antiobesity drugs had no significant impact on reduced mortality in a population-based study of more than 6000 adults with knee or hip osteoarthritis.
  Medscape Medical News, December 11, 2023
• OABG Not Superior to RYGB for Weight Loss, Metabolism One-anastomosis gastric bypass produces comparable weight loss and metabolic outcomes to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, but it is less effective for other outcomes.
  Medscape Medical News, December 11, 2023
• Sickle Cell Gene Therapy 'Truly Transformative' Patients who received lovo-cel had durable remissions and reductions in vaso-occlusive events, pain crises, and hospitalizations in the longest running gene therapy trial for sickle cell disease.
  Medscape Medical News, December 10, 2023
• 1 in 10 Stool-Based CRC Tests Can't Be Processed Unsatisfactory fecal immunochemical tests often stem from inadequate or old specimens, incomplete labeling, or broken/leaking containers, and they may leave many patients unscreened.
  Medscape Medical News, December 08, 2023
• NAFLD Familial Risk Score Tops FIB-4 Index for Finding Fibrosis A new risk model for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease could offer a simpler and more accurate way of predicting advanced fibrosis in first-degree relatives.
  MDedge News, December 07, 2023
• Are Liquid Biopsy Tests Cost-Effective for CRC Screening? In unscreened adults who refuse colonoscopy, liquid biopsy tests may not have sufficient performance and cost too much to be a viable strategy at this time, an economic analysis suggests.
  Medscape Medical News, December 07, 2023
• Early Ileocecal Resection Bests Anti-TNF Therapy for Crohn's Early ileocecal resection is associated with better long-term outcomes compared with anti–tumor necrosis factor therapy for patients with Crohn's disease.
  MDedge News, December 07, 2023
• MASLD Often Is Worse in Slim Patients Among patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, the rate of advanced fibrosis is more than twice as high in slim patients than in patients with overweight or obesity.
  Medscape Medical News, December 07, 2023
• Vegan Diet May Curb Hot Flashes by Altering the Microbiome An exploratory analysis reveals potential associations between a dietary intervention and both a reduction in postmenopausal vasomotor symptoms and changes in the gut microbiome.
  Medscape Medical News, December 07, 2023
• Personalized Nutrition Therapy Promotes Diabetes Remission Nutrition therapy can be highly effective, especially if the aims and methods are determined on an individual basis.
  Medscape Medical News, December 06, 2023
• Guideline Affirms Role of Biomarkers in Crohn's Disease 'Use of biomarkers is no longer considered experimental and should be an integral part of IBD care and monitoring.'
  MDedge News, December 06, 2023
• Taste, Smell Changes Affect QOL in Patients With Cirrhosis Clinicians should screen for changes in taste and smell among patients at risk for cognitive changes and offer nutritional interventions to support body weight and QOL.
  MDedge News, December 06, 2023
• Cancer Prognosis Tied to Short-Term Suicide Risk Poorer prognosis after a cancer diagnosis was strongly associated with a higher suicide risk within 6 months of diagnosis, according to an analysis of US registry data.
  Medscape Medical News, December 05, 2023
• US Life Expectancy Still Lags: What Doctors Can Do Today Learn why American life expectancy has eroded and what you can do with patients to help fix the problem.
  Medscape Medical News, December 05, 2023
• Link Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Obesity Unclear Debates about the association of vitamin D levels with obesity are ongoing, and confounding factors remain to be elucidated.
  Medscape Medical News, December 05, 2023
• Next Up for PCPs: Managing CKM An AHA presidential advisory introduced the concept of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic health, with PCPs as key providers.
  Medscape Medical News, December 05, 2023
• Choosing the Right Approach to Cancer and Menopause Symptoms Hormone replacement therapy may be considered to lessen these symptoms, but only in certain conditions, said a gynecologist.
  Medscape Medical News, November 21, 2023
• Surgery Is Falling Out of Favor in Rectal Cancer With organ preservation on the rise, investigators say practice guidelines need to catch up.
  Medscape Medical News, November 20, 2023
• Risk for CRC Recurrence After Surgery Is Falling A marked reduction in colorectal cancer recurrence after surgery has led investigators to wonder whether some patients can skip intensive surveillance afterward.
  Medscape Medical News, November 20, 2023
• GLP-1 RAs Tied to Suboptimal Bowel Prep, Repeat Colonoscopy For every 14 patients on a GLP-1 RA undergoing colonoscopy, one patient would require a repeat procedure owing to inadequate prep, results indicate.
  Medscape Medical News, November 20, 2023
• Use the Stool! Fecal Transplants Help Kids With C Diff The American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed fecal transplants to eliminate a particular infection in children and called for more research about other uses.
  Medscape Medical News, November 20, 2023
• Before Signing an Offer Letter: Read This You just received an offer letter, but should you sign it right away? How legally binding is it? Is it the same as a contract? Experts weigh in.
  Medscape Medical News, November 17, 2023
• AASLD 2023 Novel Agent Seladelpar Improves Markers of PBC Activity For 1 in 4 patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) who received the investigational PPAR-delta agonist, alkaline phosphatase levels normalized.
  Medscape Medical News, November 17, 2023
• Alert FDA OKs First-Line Pembro With Chemo for Gastric/GEJ Cancer Adding pembrolizumab to chemotherapy had significant benefits in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic, HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
  Medscape Medical News, November 17, 2023
• Fibromyalgia, CFS More Prevalent in Patients With IBS Irritable bowel syndrome is linked to increased odds of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.
  Medscape Medical News, November 16, 2023
• AASLD 2023 Low-Dose Aspirin Reduces Liver Fat, Inflammation Markers A single daily low dose of aspirin significantly reduced hepatic fat fraction and liver transaminase levels in a randomized trial in patients with metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease.
  Medscape Medical News, November 16, 2023
• Ex-director Accuses ADA of 'Pay to Play' With Sweetener Splenda A former director of nutrition for the American Diabetes Association sued the nonprofit organization, accusing it of firing her for objecting to what she called a 'pay to play' scheme to promote Splenda.
  Reuters Health Information, November 15, 2023
• Knee Surgery Surge Not Linked to Premature Intervention A rise in total knee arthroplasty doesn’t appear to be due to operations on healthier patients, according to a meta-analysis. Questions remain about the best time for patients to undergo the procedure.
  Medscape Medical News, November 16, 2023
• ChatGPT Gives Incorrect Answers About EoE ChatGPT provides a mix of accurate and inaccurate information to common questions about eosinophilic esophagitis, according to a new study.
  Medscape Medical News, November 16, 2023
• F-Hb Concentration at FIT May Help Define Screening Interval Shorter colorectal cancer screening intervals may be appropriate for patients with higher fecal hemoglobin concentrations on fecal immunochemical testing.
  Medscape Medical News, November 16, 2023
• People With Diabetes Have a Higher Risk of Colon Cancer People with diabetes had a 47% increased risk of getting colorectal cancer compared with people without diabetes.
  WebMD Health News, November 15, 2023
• GLP-1 RAs Plus Bariatric Surgery: 'Promising' for Obesity Liraglutide combined with endoscopic bariatric therapy can provide weight loss on par with bariatric surgery alone, raising the question of whether the GLP-1 RAs might one day replace surgery.
  Medscape Medical News, November 14, 2023
• Fewer Than 1 in 4 Patients With HCV-Related HCC Get DAAs Early uncertainty about the safety of noninterferon antivirals in patients with liver cancer may have contributed to the slow acceptance of direct-acting antiviral agents in this population.
  Medscape Medical News, November 14, 2023
• New Insights Into How Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve NASH Omega-3 fatty acids downregulate expression of betacellulin in patients with NASH, providing a potential new avenue for prevention and treatment, a study has found.
  Medscape Medical News, November 14, 2023
• GLP-1 RAs: How to Manage Real-World GI Complications Although GLP-1 receptor agonists are transforming the treatment of diabetes and obesity, gastroenterologists increasingly are being called upon to manage the side effects of these medications.
  Medscape Medical News, November 14, 2023
• CPPD Nomenclature Is Sore Subject for Gout Group Since 2011, the nomenclature guidelines have been cited hundreds of times, but a new report finds that the medical literature mostly hasn’t followed the recommendations.
  MDedge News, November 14, 2023