SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A new tool will help kids with inflammatory bowel disease get better monitoring without the need for intrusive procedures.
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals will be offering intestinal ultrasound services to patients from its Walnut Creek campus later this year.
The hospital system said it was the first hospital in the western United States to offer the service to its adult patients in 2023.
Pediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Sabina Ali is leading the effort for the new pediatric service and spoke about it with KCBS’ Bret Burkhart on this week’s episode of As Prescribed.
First, what is inflammatory bowel disease?
“Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic autoimmune condition that affects our intestines,” Dr. Ali explained. “So our small intestine or large intestine, but there also can be signs or symptoms outside our intestines, like the joints, the eyes or other organs.”
A chronic autoimmune condition happens when your immune system turns on, but for whatever reason, has a hard time turning off.
To diagnose and monitor IBD conditions, there are often tests like an endoscopy and a colonoscopy.
“Which you can imagine, it's a very invasive process of getting a clean out, having to do anesthesia,” the doctor said.
She said that process can be daunting when it needs to be done several times. That’s where the intestinal ultrasound comes into play.
"It can have a significant impact on making decisions for who needs an endoscopy or do you really need an endoscopy at this time or can your medications or treatments be changed based on what we see today in the clinic.”
This procedure is more straightforward for patients.
“It is a simple ultrasound that you may have received or have looked at that is done, which is radiation free,” Dr. Ali explained. “It will be done in a clinic. So you will just come to the clinic for your routine clinic visit, no preparation needed. We will put the ultrasound probe on your belly and look at your intestine. So it's a real-time assessment and monitoring. It's non-invasive, it's radiation free, and can be a good alternative in endoscopy for a lot of our patients.”
It will help patients who have already been diagnosed with an IBD learn quickly if the symptoms they are having are related to IBD or not.
Additionally, it allows patients to see what is going on in the moment to help them make informed treatment decisions that work best for them and their health.
Dr. Ali told KCBS Radio she is excited for this new service coming to pediatric patients.
“We will have it available at our satellite location at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Walnut Creek. Hopefully, we can start scheduling patients later this summer.”
The service has been available for adult patients at the UCSF Crohn's and Colitis Disease Center in San Francisco.