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INTRODUCTION
The Department of
Gastroenterology is an energetic academic organization specializing in
internal medicine, in particular Gastroenterology, Hepatology and
Pancreatology. With a highly capable staff, our department provides
up-to-date medical care for patients, as well as a well-rounded education for
medical students who will become future leaders in the life science field.
Members of our department conduct cutting-edge clinical research, and we
provide training in the clinical practice of medicine, in particular
gastroenterology. We are also contributing new knowledge through highly
creative research activities in this field.
The Department of Gastroenterology currently consists of a professor, two
associate professors, eight assistant professors, nine senior staff members
and three graduate students.
CLINICAL ACTIVITIES
A number of
talented medical staff members are working at our department, and they
continuously exert themselves to implement high quality medical treatment to
meet patients’ needs. Clinical associates, senior staff and residents take
care of in-patients. General diagnoses, therapeutic plans and decisions for
each inpatient are proposed and evaluated at the weekly professor’s round.
Our department offers out-patient care every day for gastroenterological
diseases. Clinical conferences are held to discuss patients with difficult
clinical problems.
Residents of our University Hospital join the Department of Gastroenterology
for a two-month rotation in their first and second year as a physician, where
they learn therapeutics and diagnostics in gastroenterology, together with
general medicine. If they develop a particular interest in gastroenterology,
they may spend a few years learning advanced techniques in gastroenterology
in affiliated hospitals. After this, they usually return to the department
and further improve their clinical skills.
Last year, gastroduodenal endoscopy was performed on 3000 patients,
colonoscopy on 2000 patients, and endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography
(ERCP) on 300 patients in our department. We recently introduced
double-balloon endoscopy for thorough examination of the small intestines as
well. All of these interventions are performed by department members who are
specially trained in each technique. We actively aim for fully developed
therapies, including endoscopic treatment for neoplasms in the
gastrointestinal and pancreato-biliary tract, percutaneous radiofrequency
ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma and advanced molecular targeted-therapeutics
for inflammatory bowel diseases. Using advanced bio-scientific technology, we
recently carried out a successful autologous bone marrow cell infusion
therapy for patients with liver cirrhosis. We also focus on new antiviral
strategies against chronic viral hepatitis and prevention of hepatic
malignancy.
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Medical students
attend lectures on specialized fields of internal medicine, especially gastroenterology,
given by staff members of the department, and they receive bedside training
to deepen their knowledge of diseases. In particular, our department
emphasizes the importance of this type of teaching for the fifth and sixth
year students, where each student is allotted an in-patient and joins the
group of physicians in charge of the patient for medical examination and
treatment. During the bedside teaching, our associates instruct them on a
person-to-person basis how to arrive at correct diagnoses, and therapies,
techniques of physical examination, how to interpret laboratory tests and
evaluate other medical examinations, and basic medical procedures. Students
are also requested to be present at the weekly round given by the professor.
Graduate students are trained as physicians in the Yamagata University
Hospital and its affiliated hospitals. The main purpose of the department is
to produce refined physicians with specialized skills and a broad human
vision. The postgraduate course is started after clinical training as a
resident. Research activities carried out by students generally focus on
research projects in one of our laboratories. The students conduct research
under the supervision of specialists and the professor.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Our department
has three laboratories; of the gastrointestinal tract, liver diseases and
bilio-pancreatic diseases. Recently, our department has upgraded its
facilities so that we have very well-furnished research laboratories. Each
laboratory holds its own conference and journal club on a weekly basis. The
research fields cover wide areas of gastroenterology. The following themes
are currently being investigated in our department;
(1) Laboratory of gastrointestinal tract
- Metabolic
abnormalities involved in colorectal carcinogenesis
- Immunotherapeutics
for inflammatory bowel diseases:
- Glucocorticoid
receptor and therapeutic responses
- Biological effects
of serine protease inhibitors
- Leukocyte adsorptive
apheresis
(2) Laboratory of pancreas and bile tract
- Molecular
therapeutics for pancreatic diseases:
- Mechanism(s) of
acute and chronic pancreatitis
- Angiotensin receptor
antagonist for pancreatitis
- Molecular
pathology in pancreatic cancer and bile duct tumor:
- Promoter
hypermethylation and somatic mutation
- Impaired
function of pancreas and insulin resistance
(3) Laboratory of liver diseases
- Liver
molecular therapeutics:
- Innovative new
methods to control viral hepatitis
- Analysis of the
secondary structure of HCV NS3 protein amino terminus
- Effect of
angiotensin receptor antagonist on liver fibrosis
- Liver
regenerative medicine:
- Autologous bone
marrow cell infusion therapy
- Molecular
epidemiology and pathogenesis of hepatitis C:
- Genome science of
single-nucleotide polymorphisms
- In-vitro replicated
infectious HCV system
- Molecular
analysis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
We are pleased to support the professional development of
physicians with creative and inquiring minds. We WELCOME all highly motivated
medical students.
PLEASE COME AND JOIN
US!
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