Principal Investigator: Ronak Vashi Patel, MD Imagine a piece of food becomes stuck in your throat while eating dinner. Unfortunately, for many patients with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE), this is a symptom that occurs all too often. Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, is a gastroenterology “red flag” that often alerts physicians to initiate a work up to determine the cause. Typically, the first step calls for an upper endoscopy to visually assess inflammation and narrowing (strictures) that can be treated. Prior data suggests that visual evaluation is not perfect. Missed strictures can lead to additional testing and delay diagnosis. Other tools have become available to assist in measuring the esophageal diameter such as the Functional Lumen Imaging Probe (FLIP), a novel technology. Dr. Patel’s research project aims to determine how accurately physicians measure esophageal diameter as compared to FLIP in patients with EoE. Better understanding the accuracy of endoscopic assessment by both visual estimation and FLIP assessment will offer insight into which tools should be used in diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of esophageal...
Principal Investigator: A. Aziz Aadam, MD From development to implementation, new medical advancements often don’t enter into mainstream usage without education and training. Introduced in the 1990s in Japan, minimally-invasive endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has become the standard of care for not only treating but also, most importantly, curing early gastrointestinal cancers. While widely accepted practice in Japan and Eastern countries, ESD hasn’t yet gain a foothold in western countries—mainly due to lack of available training from specialists skilled in performing ESD. Medical centers with the highest volumes of GI procedures typically provide the best ESD training experiences. At the moment, most of those centers operate outside of the United States. Endoscopists with an interest in learning the leading-edge technique must travel abroad and even with the instruction they receive, usually require more education and guidance to shorten the learning curve. Interest in developing ESD programs in this country has grown: Northwestern Medicine launched its ESD program in January 2016, joining the 15 to 20 centers in the country performing ESD. Supported by a grant from the Digestive Health Foundation, investigators led by A. Aziz Aadam, MD, in Northwestern Medicine’s Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, plan to bring much-needed ESD training closer to home. By creating an original video series, they intend to develop a premier educational tool for endoscopists from Western countries. Dr. Aadam and his co-investigators, including two Japanese endoscopic experts, will produce six 3D animated videos based on real-world examples. The videos will illustrate in detail the best strategies for treating the most commonly encountered lesions in the GI tract, focusing on those found in the...
Principal investigator: Rena Yadlapati, MD Every physician strives for and every patient expects an accurate diagnosis—no matter what the health issue. Advancements in imaging and other technologies continue to enhance diagnostic capabilities for a range of diseases, including gastrointestinal disorders. But even the most sophisticated diagnostic tools can yield erroneous results in untrained and/or inexperienced hands. In the field of esophageal disorders, high-resolution esophageal manometry (HREM) is the gold standard for diagnosing certain disorders of the esophagus, including difficulty swallowing. The precision of HREM allows gastroenterologists to track esophageal motility or movement patterns to pinpoint functional problems of this essential digestive organ. While HREM provides invaluable information, the skill and knowledge of the GI specialists using this advanced technology varies widely across the country. From disparities in performance to interpretation of HREM data, the potential for inaccurate diagnosis that adversely impact patient care and quality of life is—unacceptably—too high. Already researchers at Northwestern Medicine have designed a web-based training program and conducted a pilot study: They observed learning curves for HREM among 20 gastroenterology trainees nationwide. Supported by a grant from the Digestive Health Foundation, the investigators led by Rena Yadlapati, MD, will now build on the success of their initial work. They plan to apply their methodology to a larger group of physicians (residents and faculty) with minimal experience with HREM to validate the existing data and determine key competency benchmarks. Dr. Yadlapati’s team will work with the Instructional Design & Development group at Northwestern University to create interactive training modules. They will then integrate interactive educational video and electronic handbooks, among other tools, into their training system....
