Gastroenterologists have their modern techniques Doctors

Although the two men first practiced as surgeons, gastroenterologists today can thank born Japanese doctor Hiromi Shinya and his contribution in the field of medicine. Colonoscopy is a common procedure to be used for the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal tract disorders.

Life and career of Dr. Shinya

Born in 1935 in Yunagawa, Japan, Hiromi Shinya graduated from medical school in 1960 and was selected for an exclusive internship at the United States Naval Hospital Yokosuka, an excellent English skills mail. It made its way to the US where he has residency at Beth Israel in New York as a general surgeon. While he was a senior resident in the 1960s, he started and cardiothoracic surgeon William Wolff and by their common interest in a new technology of fiber optic endoscope, which they think could improve detection of polyps and the cancer.

An important development

In 1969, Wolff and Shinya played some of the first modern colonoscopies. The advantage of this new process is the ease with which to inspect the entire length of the colon. Previously, intestinal polyps were observed only when symptoms were painful, and requires an abdominal operation identified. The new procedure removed much of the uncertainty surrounding this medical issue. Furthermore, they cut the art so that only a physician is necessary to perform a colonoscopy while others require two.

Finally, they tested the design Dr. Shinya, a small loop of wire that could remove a polyp right during the procedure, which eliminates the need for surgery altogether. The team performed over 2000 procedures before their findings public in the medical community, what they did in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1973. gastroenterologists were initially slow this approach, be wary of the fact that surgery in nature, but in the 1980s colonoscopy had become common practice.

Importance of colonoscopies

Before these two doctors have changed the landscape of this area of medicine has underestimated the risk of colon polyps. Today, it is generally known among physicians that they are often small, the progression of benign cancer or tumors. Therefore, many medical associations screened at age 50 followed thereafter every ten years. Now is the best tool for the development of colon cancer. It is estimated each year this procedure prevent ten of thousand of new cases of cancer.

In addition to the use for the prevention and diagnosis of cancer, gastroenterology to diagnose the United States uses the endoscopy of the colon and eight other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract in particular irritable bowel Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

The last expansion of this type of review is the virtual colonoscopy which used computer imaging to show the results of a completely non invasive analysis. This technique is still in development and testing, and it remains to see if it will eventually supplant the normal colonoscopy. Once an advanced development in its own right Dr. Wolff and Dr. Shinya work is now a standard for gastroenterologists and surgeon.