The American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy has issued new guidelines for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Jay Yepuri, MD, MS, discusses how these new guidelines impact GERD care in the GI field.
Question: How do the new GERD treatment guidelines affect how GI physicians approach treatment options?
Jay Yepuri, MD, MS, Digestive Health Associates of Texas (Bedford): The new guidelines realistically address the main clinical issues that affect the management of patients with GERD — who needs an endoscopy, what is the role of biopsy and what are our options for treatment. Of particular importance is the inclusion of endoscopic therapies for the management of GERD in the guidelines — this inclusion was long overdue.
Q: Why are these updated guidelines important to consider when treating patients with GERD?
JY: The guidelines are based on the best available evidence and provide an algorithmic approach to risk stratifying and treating our patients. With the support of the guidelines, we can feel confident that we are making the best evidence based recommendations to our patients.
Q: How do you think GERD treatment will continue to evolve over the next few years?
JY: In two main ways. First, as concerns about the adverse effects of long-term PPI use continue to build, the pressure to develop novel pharmacotherapeutic alternatives to long-term PPI therapy will build, as well. Second, I believe minimally invasive endoscopic therapies will become central to the management of our GERD patients, especially as these technologies become more sophisticated and have good data supporting their benefit and use.
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