Frederick Gandolfo, MD

The adenoma detection rate (ADR) is currently the best "report card" for colonoscopy performance available. All doctors that perform colonoscopy are not equally good at it. All endoscopists should be measuring their own individual ADR, and working to push that number higher and higher.

As a patient, you only have control over a few parts of your colonoscopy.  Usually you have a choice of which doctor does the procedure.  You have a choice of showing up on the day of the procedure vs. running in the other direction.  And finally, you have control on how well you are “prepped”  … Read more

Bad news is always hard to break.  I would like to think that I get better at breaking bad news after doing it over and over, but it doesn’t make it easier.  Some experiences stick with you and this is one of them: Several years ago I was making rounds in the hospital and my  … Read more

Most of the time, nasogastric tubes can be easily passed "blindly" at the bedside without any special equipment or sedation. However, every once in a while, the tube cannot be passed for various reasons, often related to problems in the esophagus such as strictures, tumors, or large hiatal hernias.

Part one of this topic can be found here. Nonselective beta-blockers (NSBBs) are often indicated for prevention of variceal bleeding in cirrhotic patients. However, there has been a large amount of data in the past several years that have raised serious concerns over the safety and utility of beta-blockers in patients with more advanced cirrhosis.  … Read more

Cirrhosis is the final common stage of most types of chronic liver disease, and appears as “scarring” of the liver tissue under the microscope. The liver becomes firm, and instead of blood flowing easily through the organ on the way back to the heart there is a high level of resistance to blood flow through  … Read more