Bhaktasharan Patel MD - Colorado Springs

Gastroenterologist | I enjoy patient contact. You get involved with patients in a fashion that you become part of the process from beginning to end. You treat them, they feel great, and they come back to you with a smile on their face. That to me is a really unique experience. I also enjoy communication with my peers. We have many treatments for cancer patients today; there are a lot more options for their care. In the past, we used to have to refer them to tertiary care centers. Specifically, we have made tremendous improvements in diagnostic technology. With endoscopic untrasound, we are looking at bile ducts, looking into the small bowel.

Newer lab testing is available for inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Genetic testing is available for diagnosing familial risk, especially for colon cancer. With these tools, we can diagnose cancer earlier and treat better. Minimally invasive procedures also offer options for patients. We can treat even advanced polyps with endoscopy, so that many patients no longer have to have surgery.

There are new developments on the horizon in Gastroenterology that have the potential to improve patient outcomes. Newer technologies like therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography (ERCP) are going to come online soon. With ERCP, we inject dye into the lower ducts of the pancreas, opening up the canal so we can break stones with electro hydroliphotrypsy. This is happening in other centers in the country; soon we will start doing it. Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is becoming a huge deal now on the horizon. For example, you can put a scope down into the stomach for removal of the gall bladder through the stomach. This procedure is already being done in Mexico, Europe, and some centers here. There are also various therapeutic modalities like BARRX. BARRX is an advanced ablation technology to treat and remove diseased esophageal lining. You can diagnose cancer in the early stages and target biopsy where you see the abnormality. In the next few years we will be doing those kinds of things. Many patients are gathering health information through the Internet and the media. What are the pros and cons of this trend? Information is good, but not to self-diagnose. It is helpful for patients to expand knowledge of disease once it is diagnosed, not symptoms.