GLG News by Gastroenterologists in Private Practice (US)

The Stark bill aims to offer both incentives and eventually financial penalties to speed the adoption of electronic medical records. It includes provisions that would create a "standard", however it is unclear the degree of interoperability different systems would have, and the degree to which the interfaces...

This potential issue has been of concern since we changed to Propofol based anesthesia for all of our patients approximately five years ago.  We made this decision because it made endoscopic procedures significantly more tolerable (essentially painless, except for the bowel prep) for just...

The value of accounts managed by E-Trade has fallen by 12% despite opening up 16,000 new accounts.  This implies that either a large number of accounts have been lost to E-Trade or there has been a significant decrease in the value per account.  If the overall number of accounts has decreased...

The long term efficacy of botulinum toxin Type A for the treatment of glabellar frown lines was recently discussed  in San Antonio, Texas at the 66th annual meeting of the American Association of Dermatology. Kawashima and other fellow Japanese investigators presented long-term (64 weeks)...

Patients with isolated proctitis remain a difficult to treat subpopulation of patients with UC.  Topical mesalamine is often efficacious, but is not always the preferred mode of administration for many patients.  As we have a variety of options as to which oral mesalamine preparation to use...

Which PPI to prescribe?  We already have a myriad of choices between brands, which in general, are all quite effective when used for the correct indications.  An oral suspension is useful in a patient who requires PPI therapy, but who is unable to swallow pills for a variety of reasons. ...

Oral proton pump inhibition has been a breakthrough in the management of upper gastrointestinal related disorders.  Due to drug delivery issues, pills and capsules are ineffectively administered in the population of patients with swallowing difficulties.  Suspensions are a key in managing...

Remicade, an biologic designed to interrupt the inflammatory cascade in inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, and approved for use in these entities by the FDA, represents the first class of drugs to positively alter the natural course of these diseases.  Before...

The clinical outcome information in this report regarding decreasing colectomy rate is not particularly surprising, but the cost statements may be misleading.  One wonders if the increased health care costs in the colectomy group reflect that fact that the observation period was only...

Constipation predominant IBS is an extremely common problem, which while not life threatening, interferes significantly with daily function in many people.  We have very few effective drugs (especially since Zelnorm was taken off of the market) for this condition.  Lubiprostone may be...