gastrosa

The last edition of this journal for 2018 brings an end to a very beneficial year from an educational point for SAGES. Numerous conferences and standalone symposia in collaboration with the Gastro Foundation has resulted in positive feedback from our members.

Adam Mahomed

Liver transplantation (LT) is an established, effective and often lifesaving treatment for acute and chronic end stage liver disease (ESLD).1 The transplant procedure remains a technically complex operation, and the application of living donation to the adult recipient population has added another layer of difficulty to an already challenging procedure.

Sherif M. Mogawer, Mona A. Hegazy, Omar A. Ashoush, Mervat E. Behiry

Ulcerative colitis is one of the major forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) associated with significant morbidity. Its main presenting symptoms include, abdominal cramping, diarrhoea and blood in the stool. Currently no cure is available for UC and medical therapy is aimed at induction and maintenance of clinical remission and avoidance of surgery.

Ernst Fredericks

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, progressive cholestatic liver disease of unknown aetiology. Its incidence and prevalence vary considerably in Asian and Western studies.1 The differences in the recorded epidemiological data suggest that the presentation of PSC may vary in different populations.

Mohamed Alshmandi, K Hari, A Mahomed

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a member of the Herpes virus group. It is a double stranded DNA virus and is known as Human Herpes Virus 5 in human hosts. CMV seropositivity is frequent in Western populations with a seroprevalence of 58% being reported in the U.S.1 In Africa, pooled prevalence studies demonstrate rates as high as 81.8% amongst HIV uninfected adults.

Vikash G Lala, AD Mahomed

A 17-year-old presented with extremity cramps and paraesthesia for the last three months. She also reported episodic watery diarrhoea for the last two months with occasional episodes of vomiting and secondary amenorrhoea. There was no significant past medical, drug or family history

Mohamed Alshmandi, VG Naidoo

The idyllic Vineyard Hotel, with its beautiful backdrop of Table Mountain, played host to the 11th Gastroenterology Foundation of Sub-Saharan Africa Inflammatory Bowel Disease [IBD] Interest Group Meeting held on 27 October 2018. The meeting was well attended by local Capetonian gastroenterologists and others with an interest in IBD.

Khalid Coovadia

On a beautiful Saturday morning, I made my way to the Radisson Blu Gautrain hotel in Sandton for the 9th annual liver interest meeting. After a quick cup of coffee to catch up with colleagues, we made our way into the modern and stylish conference centre to begin the talks of the day.

Preetha Thomas

The Gastroenterology Foundation of SSA once again visited Ghana and contributed to the 4th GASSLID meeting in Accra with a pre-congress Endoscopy Workshop, the first of its kind. The South African Faculty supported this Gastro Foundation pilot endoscopy course with the intention of hosting similar courses in several SSA countries.

Sandie Thomson

The inaugural “Best of the ASGE postgraduate course” was presented at the SAGES meeting and was an edited program of the ASGE postgraduate course that was held at the DDW in June 2018 in Washington DC. Professor’s Kulwinder Dua from the Medical college of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Prasad Iyer from the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota represented the ASGE as faculty, and provided excellent discussion complementing the video presentations. The ASGE course was very well attended highlighting the need for ongoing endoscopic courses featuring luminal Gastroenterology