Attendees will learn of the diagnostic approach to patients with chronic pancreatitis, the role of wireless capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure GI bleeding and suspected IBD, the contribution of PPI treatment to the management of bleeding ulcers, the understanding of the current physiology and risks and benefits of COXIBS, the differential diagnosis of colitis, and the diagnosis and treatment of GI parasitic diseases. A presentation on obesity will provide the opportunity to learn of the factors involved in the regulation of appetite, and of new treatment methods in this important health risk.
 
The Sixth AWIG Presidential Lecture by Dr. Rowen Zetterman will enable attendees to learn the true value of liver biopsy in the context of liver disease, to recognize common and uncommon histological patterns of liver injury and to assess the use of non-invasive tests for liver fibrosis. There will also be a special presentation on the spectrum of drug-induced liver disease.
 
Participants will be able to appreciate the evolving global epidemiology of GERD and its implications, learn of the therapeutic options currently available for GERD besides acid inhibition. A review the epidemiology of Barrett’s Oesophagus will be included in the material covered.
 
There will be a review of the neurophysiology of visceral perception and mechanisms of normal and abnormal neuroenteric responses associated with GI function, and an examination of the therapeutic opportunities for treating visceral pain. Attendees will learn of the overlap in functional GI disorders, and be updated on diagnostic tests and therapeutic approaches in constipation, current thinking about post-infectious IBS, and current and future TNF inhibitors in IBD.
 
There will be a discussion on the guidelines for the management of upper and lower GI disorders, and a review of the evidence for the value of alarm symptoms in diagnosing GI cancer. Attendees will learn which cases to screen for hereditary colorectal cancer and how to optimize case identification, identify the various syndromes, and understand the relevance of the available tests for this condition.
 
There will be a pathologist’s view of the significance of large bowel polyps and his plea to clinicians as to what constitutes a proper biopsy in patients with an ‘inflamed gut’, a review of the Year 2007 in Gastroenterology, a series of interactive clinical case discussions, and a presentation on the benefits of adapting to electronic technology in gastroenterology, and the range of hardware and software options available to the gastroenterologist.