2024-02-11 05:13:44
From February 8 to 11, the annual convention of the Puerto Rican Association of Gastroenterology takes place.
By: Maria Camila Sanchez
February 11, 2024
From the Sheraton Convention Center, Medicine and Public Health Magazine spoke with Dr. Kermit Richiez, current President of the Puerto Rican Association of Gastroenterology, about this year’s event, where topics related to hepatology and interventions are also addressed.
“In the 21st century, medicine is a changing topic, so the purpose of doing this type of events and activities is to keep up to date with all the trends, new technologies and new studies that are done every day. within the areas covered by gastroenterology, such as interventional endoscopy, conventional endoscopy, hepatology, liver diseases, pancreatic diseases, among others.
See the full program here.
Learning space for health professionals
Although it is true that this convention seeks to bring together gastroenterologists and hepatologists, the event has been attended by health professionals from all areas seeking to learn more about these topics.
“The main purpose of doing these types of meetings is to keep the gastroenterology community educated about everything that is happening in the world of gastroenterology and all the new trends that are out there.”
Fatty liver, one of the central topics of the convention
The disease of fatty liver is on the rise, not only in Puerto Rico, but throughout the world. For this reason, a large part of the speakers at the event this year focused on this condition and more liver diseases.
“Liver diseases are the diseases that concern us gastroenterologists the most. In fact, if we talk about the composition of the gastroenterology certification board, 60% include liver diseases.”
Unfortunately, the fatty liver It goes hand in hand with the alarming obesity figures, not only in the adult population, but also in the pediatric population.
This condition, “has become a major cause of chronic liver disease, and I want to tell these patients who develop liver diseasewho will eventually need a liver transplant.
Endoscopic interventions
Due to the increase in cases of fatty liver In Puerto Rico, this condition has been categorized as an epidemic, which is why it has occupied a large part of Congress. However, more topics will be addressed, related to interventions to treat these conditions.
“We have included everything that includes what is known as interventional endoscopy, which is the part of endoscopy where we can perform interventions where previously it was achieved with surgery. We have advanced so much that we have taken the burden off of extensive and open surgeries, because many of We can do these surgeries through endoscopies without the patient needing to go to the operating room and undergo a recovery process that requires major surgery.”
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