A panel of experts will discuss the practice implications of new and emerging endoscopic therapies for treating obesity during Saturday’s ASGE Clinical Symposium Endoscopic Management of Obesity.

Barham K. Abu Dayyeh, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology and hepatology, at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, will co-chair the 90-minute symposium alongside Vivek Kumbhari, MD, assistant professor of medicine and director of bariatric endoscopy at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

“Obesity has reached a pandemic proportion and, in the U.S., we are at the epicenter of it,” Dr. Abu Dayyeh said. “It’s estimated that more than a third of the adult population in the U.S. is obese and up to two-thirds is overweight. This is negatively impacting the health of our population and taxing our health-care system because obesity is associated with multiple costly comorbidities.”

Dr. Abu Dayyeh said the development and implementation of endoscopic bariatric therapies has set the stage for gastroenterologists to increase their involvement in managing and treating obese patients. These new tools place GI clinicians in the middle of the care spectrum, he said.

“On one end of the spectrum, we have strategies that are focused on lifestyle intervention, namely through diet and exercise,” Dr. Abu Dayyeh said. “These are important cornerstones of any weight loss strategy. However, in and by themselves, they have not shown an ability to produce a level of significant or durable weight loss to really have a huge impact on some of the main obesity comorbidities, such as fatty liver disease.”

On the other end of the obesity care spectrum is bariatric surgery, which is very effective at producing significant and durable weight loss, but is also associated with significant risk and cost.

“As clinicians, we’re basically left with a big gap between the noninvasive and invasive options for treating obesity,” Dr. Abu Dayyeh said. “But nowadays, we have treatments that bridge that gap using minimally invasive endoscopic procedures.”

During the symposium, Shelby A. Sullivan, MD, visiting associate professor and director of the gastroenterology metabolic and bariatric program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, will discuss how gastroenterologists can prepare their practices for endoscopic bariatrics.
Reem Z. Sharaiha, MD, assistant professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology and hepatology, at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, will provide an update and overview of endoscopic devices and techniques.

In the final presentation, Rabindra R. Watson, MD, assistant clinical professor of medicine and director of faculty career development in advanced endoscopy at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, will discuss the endoscopic management of adverse events following bariatric surgery. The symposium will conclude with a question-and-answer period.

“The treatment of obesity is going to be an important part of the gastroenterologist service line over the next decade,” Dr. Abu Dayyeh said. “We hope this session will give attendees a flavor of what’s available now, what’s in the pipeline for the future and how to integrate these new and evolving technologies into taking care of patients with obesity in the GI practice.”

Please refer to the DDW Mobile App or the Program section in Saturday’s DDW Daily News for additional details on this and other DDW^® events.