Gastroenterologist workforce increase revealed by AHPRA
Australia has added more than 200 gastroenterologists over the last five years, with 1060 medical practitioners now registered in the specialist physician category of gastroenterology and hepatology field of practice, according to the latest statistics on medical registration released by AHPRA.
The figures show that numbers of gastroenterologists have increased from 839 registered in 2016. As well as the 1060 adult medicine gastroenterologists there are also 39 specialist physicians registered in the gastroenterology and hepatology field of practice for the speciality category of Paediatrics and Child Health.
The gastroenterologists include 24 in the ACT, 319 in NSW, six in the Northern Territory, 215 in Queensland, 75 in South Australia, 17 in Tasmania, 296 in Victoria, and 92 in WA.
Overall, there are 130,476 registered medical practitioners in total in Australia, and 11,114 practitioners registered as specialists.
Clip closure prevents post EMR bleeding
Prophylactic clip closure prevents bleeding after endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) of large (≥20 mm) non-pedunculated colorectal polyps, an Australian study shows.
In a randomised trial involving 231 patients referred for the EMR of large non-pedunculated colorectal polyps in the right colon, rates of clinically significant post-EMR bleeding were less frequent in those assigned to the clip group than in the control group (3·4% vs 10·6%, p=0·031). The absolute risk reduction was 7·2% and the number needed to treat to prevent one post-EMR bleed was 13·9, according to the study findings published in Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
Led by Dr Sunil Gupta and Professor Michael Bourke, the study investigators said there were no differences between groups in adverse events, including delayed perforation (one in each group) and post-EMR pain.
Gastric organoids show SARS-CoV-2 shedding
Mini-stomach organoids, developed by a team including Australian John Monash Scholar Dr Brendan Jones, are being used to study how SARS-CoV-2 affects the stomach in the foetus, children and adults.
The research demonstrated that human gastric organoids are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In particular, late fetal and pediatric organoids allow higher replication of the virus, while early fetal and adult organoids released significantly lower amounts of infectious viral progeny.
The researchers said the gastric organoids provide a unique tool to characterise the replication of viruses and some of the pathological consequences of infection. They may also provide an in vitro scalable platform for the development and testing of antiviral drug candidates targeting the GI system.
“The clinical importance of our findings relates to the worrisome phenomenon of prolonged shedding of SARS-CoV-2 from the GI tract and calls for further research to assess the risk of vertical transmission in infected women,” they said.
Read more in Nature Communications.