SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – More than 3 million Americans have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) – which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – and this week is Crohn’s and colitis awareness week. In California, UCSF is one of the only hospitals offering a new way to treat these conditions.
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“Essentially what it is – it’s a typical ultrasound like you would probably see being done, for example, in a pregnant woman to look at the fetus,” said Dr.
Rishika Chugh, a gastroenterologist and director of the UCSF Intestinal Ultrasound Clinic. She joined KCBS Radio’s Alice Wertz for the latest “As Prescribed” episode.
Compared to other procedures used to look at intestines, ultrasound doesn’t require patients to ingest solutions or be sedated. It can be performed in any clinical setting and patients can stay awake during the exam – it’s not an invasive procedure like a colonoscopy.
“So, it’s very comfortable because it’s truly a point of care exam and doesn’t require any prep,” Chugh explained. She also said that UCSF is the first center in the region to offer intestinal ultrasound to adults.
Patients with IBD conditions such as Crohn’s and colitis have chronic inflammation of their digestive tract. This can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue and weight loss.
In addition to intestinal ultrasounds making IBD management easier, Chugh said there are a lot of other new treatments for patients dealing with these conditions.
“Just within the last six weeks, we’ve had six new medications that have been approved, which gives us a lot of treatment options for our patients,” she said. “And that’s especially remarkable because for the first two decades where, when after we really got to know about IBD... there were only one or two medications approved.”
Listen to this week’s “As Prescribed” to learn more. You can also listen to last week’s episode to learn about the first Type 1 diabetes drug approved in a century here.
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