ASGE Hands-on Workshops Focus on the Latest Technologies and Techniques

By John A. Martin, MD, FASGE

New technologies and techniques in GI endoscopy are developing at a rapid pace. To meet the demands of the changing environment, ASGE will be hosting more hands-on, interactive workshops at DDW 2012 than ever before. As chair of the ASGE Institute for Training and Technology Committee, I’ve worked with the committee to develop programs that will bring DDW attendees an outstanding lineup of hands-on workshops conducted by leading GI experts from around the world.

ASGE will host six hands-on workshops that demonstrate the latest techniques in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), colonoscopy, endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), new and cutting-edge therapies, stents and ablation, and GI emergencies. During the two-and-a-half-hour sessions, which will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, participants will have ample opportunity to hone their skills and interact directly with instructors who will teach and assist attendees while they practice newly acquired skills with their own two hands under the direct tutelage of experts in each technique.

This is an exciting time to be a GI endoscopist and I’m looking forward to the workshops this year because they will emphasize both new technologies and new techniques with equal emphasis and detail.  The colonoscopy course will emphasize not only expert techniques from which nearly all endoscopists will benefit every day, but will also put directly into the hands of attendees the novel technologies and new techniques which will catapult their capabilities to provide both state-of-the art diagnostics and cutting-edge therapeutics to their most challenging patients.

Two ASGE hands-on workshops slated for Saturday and Sunday will provide hard-to-find training in a broad range of cutting-edge endoscopic technologies, including ESD, intragastric balloon devices and new suturing technologies.

While EMR has been a part of the standard endoscopy toolbox for years, ESD has only been done outside the U.S. until recently. The Saturday workshop, EMR/ESD, will offer basic, step-by-step training in both techniques.  This course promises to be the most rapid format in which today’s high-level practicing endoscopist can begin to acquire the ultimate in endoscopic respective skills never before available in the U.S. or elsewhere, placing state-of-the-art, EMR- and ESD-dedicated instrumentation directly into their hands under the supervision of international experts currently performing these techniques.

A new session this year is the Sunday hands-on workshop Xtreme Endoscopic Toolbox: New and Cutting Edge Therapies. This course will showcase the latest technologies in therapeutic endoscopy  applicable to a diverse array of endoscopic applications: ESD; treatment of pseudocysts; suturing technologies such as the Apollo Overstitch and the incisionless operating platform; and closure of fistulas and perforations. Experts will also demonstrate devices currently in use outside the U.S. for the primary treatment of obesity, such as intragastric balloons and the duodenal-jejunal bypass sleeve.

The Tuesday hands-on workshop, GI Emergencies, offers a rare opportunity for gastroenterologists to train under international specialists in the handling of acute upper-GI tract bleeding, bleeding ulcers, variceal bleeding, acute perforations and anastomotic insufficiencies.  These hands-on stations will feature many techniques and technologies which reach the high end of both technology and technique for an intensive retooling that provides up-to-the minute expertise for the participant to apply in the most intense of endoscopic situations.

There is absolutely something for every practicing endoscopist among ASGE’s hands-on workshops this year, and I hope that you’ll join us at DDW 2012 for these exciting and informative sessions.

Separate registration is required for hands-on sessions, please visit www.ddw.org to register.