(Press-News.org) Bethesda, MD (Sept. 15, 2014) — The treatment of Crohn's disease is evolving. To help gastroenterologists better identify and manage their Crohn's disease patients, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has created a clinical decision tool to guide GIs in their decision-making process. The "Identification, Assessment, and Initial Medical Treatment in Crohn's Disease Clinical Decision Support Tool," published in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the AGA, synthesizes gastroenterologist's understanding of the disease with data from recent studies to create a pathway for GIs to follow in assessing and treating their patients.
"As health-care systems move towards providing better quality care, it is important for gastroenterologists to have clinical support tools that will help them treat underlying disease, as well as the whole person," according to William J. Sandborn, MD, AGAF, author of the AGA clinical decision tool, from the division of gastroenterology, University of San Diego, La Jolla, CA. "This clinical support tool represents a big step forward for the treatment of Crohn's disease and was created using a rigorous review process."
To create the tool, a workgroup reviewed current literature to develop a practical algorithm to help clinicians:
Assess patients for active inflammation and the presence of complications and co-morbid conditions.
Risk stratify their patients.
Apply effective therapies based on AGA's latest guideline
Ensure that patient's underlying inflammation is sufficiently treated.
Point-of-Care Clinical Decision Support Tools
The Identification, Assessment, and Initial Medical Treatment in Crohn's Disease Clinical Decision Support Tool is the most recent clinical decision tool published by the AGA. A number of other clinical decision support tools have been developed for hot topic issues in GI, such as biologics for Crohn's disease, colonoscopy surveillance and hepatitis C screening and evaluation.
INFORMATION:
Learn more at http://www.gastro.org/practice/medical-position-statements.
References
Sandborn WJ. Crohn's Disease Evaluation and Treatment: Clinical Decision Tool. Gastroenterology 2014:147(3):702-705.
Terdiman, JP et al. American Gastroenterological Association Institute Guideline on the Use of Thiopurines, Methotrexate, and Anti-TNF-Alpha Biologic Drugs for the Induction and Maintenance of Remission in Inflammatory Crohn's Disease. Gastroenterology 2013;145(6):1459�.
About the AGA Institute
The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to include 17,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. http://www.gastro.org.
About Gastroenterology
Gastroenterology, the official journal of the AGA Institute, is the most prominent scientific journal in the specialty and is in the top 1 percent of indexed medical journals internationally. The journal publishes clinical and basic science studies of all aspects of the digestive system, including the liver and pancreas, as well as nutrition. The journal is abstracted and indexed in Biological Abstracts, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences, Chemical Abstracts, Current Contents, Excerpta Medica, Index Medicus, Nutrition Abstracts and Science Citation Index. For more information, visit http://www.gastrojournal.org.
Like AGA and Gastroenterology on Facebook.
Join AGA on LinkedIn.
Follow us on Twitter @AmerGastroAssn.
Check out our videos on YouTube.
AGA releases new tool to help GIs evaluate and treat Crohn's disease
2014-09-15
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
High-dose opioid prescribing continues to climb
2014-09-12
TORONTO, Sept. 12, 2014 – High-dose opioid prescribing increased by 23 per cent in Canada between 2006 and 2011, despite clinical guidelines recommending that most patients should avoid high-doses of these drugs, according to new research.
Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) found that rates of high-dose opioid dispensing across Canada increased from 781 units per 1,000 people in 2006 to 961 units per 1,000 people in 2011.
"We found that high-dose prescribing was widespread across the country, but the prevalence ...
Study solves the bluetongue disease 'overwintering' mystery
2014-09-12
The bluetongue virus, which causes a serious disease that costs the
cattle and sheep industries in the United States an estimated $125
million annually, manages to survive the winter by reproducing in the
insect that transmits it, report veterinary scientists at the
University of California, Davis.
The findings solve a century-old mystery and are particularly
significant as global climate change brings more moderate winter
temperatures around the world. The new study appears Sept. 12 in the
journal PLOS ONE.
"By conducting this epidemiological study on a commercial ...
Tropical Storm Odile expected to 'eat' Tropical Depression 16E
2014-09-12
The image of the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the two storms was taken at 8 a.m. EDT (5 a.m. PDT) on September 12. It shows that Tropical Depression 16E (TD16E) is about 10 times smaller in comparison to Tropical Storm Odile, located to its east. NOAA manages the GOES-West satellite but the image was created by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The National Hurricane Center noted that TD16E is unable to intensify because of its close proximity to Tropical Storm Odile.
Forecaster Pasch at NOAA's National Hurricane Center ...
A wife's happiness is more crucial than her husband's in keeping marriage on track
2014-09-12
When it comes to a happy marriage, a new Rutgers study finds that the more content the wife is with the long-term union, the happier the husband is with his life no matter how he feels about their nuptials.
"I think it comes down to the fact that when a wife is satisfied with the marriage she tends to do a lot more for her husband, which has a positive effect on his life," said Deborah Carr, a professor in the Department of Sociology, School of Arts and Science.
"Men tend to be less vocal about their relationships and their level of marital unhappiness might not be ...
NASA sees Tropical Storm Kalmaegi swirl toward the Philippines
2014-09-12
Tropical Depression 15W intensified during the early morning hours of September 12 and became a tropical storm re-named "Kalmaegi." NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead as the storm intensified.
The MODIS instrument, known as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Kalmaegi approaching the Philippines on Sept. 12 at 4:45 UTC (12:45 a.m. EDT). The image showed tightly-curved bands of thunderstorms over the northern and southern quadrants of the storm that were wrapping into a ...
NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP sees formation of Tropical Storm Edouard
2014-09-12
The sixth tropical depression of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season formed in the central Atlantic Ocean yesterday, and today, September 12, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Edouard. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite flew over Edouard and provided forecasters with an infrared view of what's happening within the strengthening storm.
When Suomi NPP passed over Edouard on September 12 at 04:37 UTC (12:37 a.m. EDT), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite or VIIRS instrument aboard captured an infrared image of the storm. The infrared data shows temperature, an indicated ...
Worldwide study demonstrates accuracy of genetic analyses
2014-09-12
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 12, 2014 — Physicians envision a future in which genomic data from patients is heavily used to manage care — but experts have questioned the accuracy and reliability of these analyses. Now, a study by 150 researchers in 12 countries finds real strength and agreement across RNA genomic sequencing techniques and laboratories — as well as ways to improve what little variability exists to set a new high standard.
The results of the study were published in Nature Biotechnology in three separate research articles.
These results should provide assurance ...
Tropical Storm Odile taken on by 2 NASA satellites
2014-09-12
As Tropical Storm Odile continues to affect Mexico's west coast and stir up dangerous surf, NASA's TRMM and Aqua satellites provided forecasters information on clouds and rainfall in the coast-hugging storm. On September 12, A Tropical Storm Watch remained in effect from Manzanillo to Cabo Corrientes, Mexico.
Tropical Storm Odile formed on September 10, 2014 in the same area where Norbert formed.
Gathering Rainfall and Thunderstorm Height Information
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite flew over tropical storm Odile on September 11, 2014 at ...
CCNY analysis explains rich bird biodiversity in Neotropics
2014-09-12
Applying analyses designed by City College of New York biologist Mike Hickerson, a team of international researchers is challenging a commonly held view that explains how so many species of birds ended up in the Neotropics, an area rich in rain forest extending from Mexico to the southernmost tip of South America. It is home to the most bird species on Earth.
"The unanswered question has been—how did this extraordinary bird diversity originate?" said Dr. Brian Smith, lead author of a paper on the subject published in the journal Nature this week and an assistant curator ...
Fluid mechanics suggests alternative to quantum orthodoxy
2014-09-12
The central mystery of quantum mechanics is that small chunks of matter sometimes seem to behave like particles, sometimes like waves. For most of the past century, the prevailing explanation of this conundrum has been what's called the "Copenhagen interpretation" — which holds that, in some sense, a single particle really is a wave, smeared out across the universe, that collapses into a determinate location only when observed.
But some founders of quantum physics — notably Louis de Broglie — championed an alternative interpretation, known as "pilot-wave theory," which ...