SAGES Magazine

THE SOUTH AFRICAN GASTROENTEROLOGY REVIEW 2022 | VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 3 | 21 The first part of the morning allowed the ultrasound novices to explore normal anatomy - a group of medical students from the University of Cape Town volunteered their time as subjects. A big thank you to them and hopefully it was rewarding to them giving them a peek into the future of diagnostics! An additional group of patients with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), kindly organized by Prof Gill Watermeyer and Prof Mashiko Setshedi, joined us for the second part of the meeting where delegates were able to appreciate IBD pathology utilizing ultrasound - once again the delegates were very grateful to these individuals giving up their Saturday for this purpose. The ability to assess disease activity, follow fistulous tracts as well as stenosed bowel was an eye-opener! Whoops of excitement could be heard from the clinicians able to capture the pathology they were looking for. The expert guidance of Prof Rogler and Dr Biedermann made things look all too easy! It would take at least 50 cases to become comfortable and a further 50 more to become proficient; thankfully we are 20% there at the conclusion of this weekend! A further station incorporating transient elastography utilizing the Fibroscan device gave a further perspective to the hepatology component. The end of the COVID restrictions has made it easier to hold these gatherings and once again it was wonderful seeing friends and colleagues from all over the world. A final thanks to the Gastro Foundation team for putting this meeting together as well as Takeda who had given a generous educational grant for the meeting to take place. I am certain that if each delegate translates into practice, what they had learnt at this meeting, it will be a game changer for patients in South Africa and especially so in the public sector where waiting times for MRI scans can extend into months let alone the potential for use in SSA! It is hoped that following the success of this ‘pilot event’ we can expand POCUS courses to the broader GI and Hepatology community and particularly into SSA. Dr Bilal Bobat Consultant Hepatologist Donald Gordon Hospital Johannesburg Trustee Gastroenterology Foundation of SSA Thank You GF ULTRASOUND MEETING REPORT