Advances in gastroenterology science and clinical practice come fast and furious. That’s why AGA begins DDW^® each year with the annual AGA Postgraduate Course.

This year’s course, From Abstract to Reality, will provide a concise and comprehensive update on the latest medical, scientific and technological advances in GI over the past 12 months. It’s tailored for attendees who may have limited time in Washington, D.C.

Sessions for the ticketed course run all day Saturday and half-day Sunday, June 2-3.

“The Postgraduate Course is for all gastroenterologists and other health-care professionals working in the GI field,” said Course Director Lin Chang, MD, AGAF, professor of medicine and co-director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“It’s an up-to-date review of all the latest developments in GI,” she continued. “We have a faculty that excels at turning abstract ideas into concrete action items that you can immediately implement in your practice, whatever the setting.”

Course presenters will help distill current guidelines, clinical research articles and emerging technology into everyday practice. They will review current approaches to a range of disease states, including luminal diseases of the upper and lower GI tract, functional GI disorders, liver and pancreatico-biliary disease, inflammatory bowel disease and liver disease.

A new presentation this year will look at the top three clinical articles published in Gastroenterology and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CGH) in the past year. CGH editor-in-chief Fasiha Kanwal, MD, MSHS, AGAF, will discuss three pivotal articles published in AGA’s two journals since last year’s DDW and how they affect clinical practice.

There’s also a renewed focus in areas that patients are talking about — and asking their GIs about.

One is a look at the latest data on proton pump inhibitors (PPI). PPIs can be extremely useful in specific situations, but they are also associated with specific side effects, particularly when used over the longer term. Patients frequently ask about the risks with PPIs, and course attendees will hear the latest research from the growing literature on this topic.

Two other hot areas are fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and endoscopic approaches to obesity treatment. The approved indications for FMT are much more limited than the general media might suggest, Dr. Chang noted, although there’s growing evidence to support uses beyond treating recurrent C. difficile infection. And endoscopic bariatric therapy offers a growing variety of approaches for dealing with obesity, from gastric balloons to restrictive transoral gastroplasty techniques and aspiration therapy.

The course will also feature familiar case-based presentations, but this year senior presenters will be paired with more junior faculty members.

“This is an opportunity for our newer faculty members to gain experience and exposure,” Dr. Chang said. “It’s also a plus for our attendees because having a second speaker adds a different clinical perspective and enhances the interaction and discussion with the audience.”

AGA postgrad course attendees get an abstract of every presentation with key take-home messages and references in the course’s eSyllabus.

The AGA Postgraduate Course requires a separate registration. Register here.