University of Florida Health Leads the Way in Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Procedures

University of Florida Health offers an individualized approach to care for patients suffering from gastrointestinal disorders. At UF Health, patients have access to novel interventions, such as minimally invasive endoscopic procedures, that avoid open surgery and reduce recovery times. “Not every procedure or intervention applies to every patient. The key is to identify who will benefit the most from a specific intervention — that’s the kind of care that we provide,” says Dennis Yang, MD, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

Due to advances in technology, a great number of gastrointestinal lesions that once required open surgery for removal can now be resected endoscopically. Gastroenterologists at UF Health have the clinical expertise and skill to perform these procedures and have been moving away from open surgical interventions when a minimally invasive resection is better suited to the particular patient.

UF Health is helping to advance the endoscopic diagnosis of precancerous lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. The first prospective, open-label study to directly compare two endoscopic ultrasound methods for the diagnosis of neoplastic pancreatic cysts demonstrated that needle tissue biopsy had a higher diagnostic accuracy than fine needle aspiration. “Our research has uncovered a novel diagnostic approach for neoplastic pancreatic cysts,” says Yang. UF Health coordinated this multicenter study and Yang served as principal investigator. Findings from this study were published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology in November 2018.