Clinics

We provide diagnosis and treatment for all diseases in the gastrointestinal tract.
Such as

• Gastrointestinal motility disorders
• Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD)
• Gastrointestinal neoplasms

Esophageal motility disorders, such as esophageal achalasia, distal esophageal spasm (DES), and esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction (EGJOO) are not commonly known, but these are actually routinely diagnosed in patients who have symptoms in the upper GI tract. We monitor the movement of esophageal muscles using a device called high-resolution manometry, which measure the pressure inside the esophagus. We also measure the pH levels in the esophagus and stomach (impedance test), which tell us the presence of gastric acid reflux. For patients with a severe esophageal stricture that is resistant to medications, we perform endoscopic surgery called POEM (peroral endoscopic myotomy). Only a handful of hospitals in Japan could provide such systematic diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for the esophageal motility disorders.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, Behcet's disease, etc. are relatively rare type of inflammatory diseases; however, the incidence is steadily increasing in Japan. At Kyushu University hospital we provide multidisciplinary treatments for patients with intractable inflammatory diseases.

Early-stage cancers in the pharynx, esophagus, stomach, and intestine could be endoscopically resected. Currently, ESD (endoscopic submucosal dissection) is considered the best treatment strategy to resect early stage GI cancers. ESD has been developed in Japan and we have been actively engaged in the proceedings of this procedure. ESD and other endoscopic surgeries are routinely performed by our team in our Hospital.

While superficial neoplasms could be resected endoscopically, such intervention for submucosal tumors (SMTs) is not quite easy. Making a differential diagnosis between benign and malignant tumors is the most important step to treat SMTs. Our endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) team performs fine-needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA) for such tumors. We also team up with the pancreatology unit in our department to perform EUS-FNA for pancreatic tumors, or team up with the department of surgery to perform EUS-FNA for mediastinal tumors. We are ranked as one of the leading experts in Kyushu area for the EUS-based diagnostics of tumors surrounding the GI tract.