Novel gastrointestinal procedures

Over the last 20 years, a large proportion of the research in the gastrointestinal field has focused on the development of enhanced imaging modalities and minimally invasive therapy for benign and malignant conditions. Both conceptually and practically these two avenues proceed together: refinement of endoscopic and radiological imaging techniques often leads to diagnosis of diseases at early pathological stage, when surgical management with related mortality and morbidity, may not be justified. In addition, preventive medicine has triggered studies on the natural history of benign pre-neoplastic conditions with the intention of defining the boundaries for early therapeutic interventions. Similarly, in benign conditions there is pressure to develop less destructive techniques as an alternative to conventional surgical approaches, to improve outcome and patient tolerability. In this short review, novel procedures for the management of common gastrointestinal conditions are illustrated. These are at different stages of introduction into routine practice, but are likely to have a significant impact on the patient management now or in the near future.