History and development of gastroenterology in the Asia Pacific region with particular reference to the role of the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation

摘要

Gastroenterology is the branch of medicine focused on the digestivesystem and its disorders and broadly includes gastrointestinal(GI) and liver diseases, GI endoscopy, and surgery. The firstpractitioners of gastroenterology were surgeons. At the turn ofthe 19th century, surgeons were at the forefront of the treatmentof a very common GI disease at that time—peptic ulcer disease.Gastroenterology developed rapidly as a special field withthe advent of fiberoptic endoscopy in the early 1960s. Accuratediagnoses of diseases of the GI tract could then be made withendoscopy. Reflux esophagitis and peptic ulcer disease could bediagnosed with certainty by direct visualization of the pathology.Soon, many endoscopic procedures were performed, and the specialtyof gastroenterology started to develop.In many countries across the world, surgeons started performingendoscopy as part of their clinical practice, but soon,general physicians with a special interest in gastroenterologybecame more adept and focused at endoscopy than surgeons. Asthey started to spend more time in gastroenterology and GIendoscopy, the fraternity of gastroenterologists began to beestablished. Liver diseases were also in their domain. However,with the discovery of the hepatitis viruses and the great advancesin the laboratory science of liver diseases, hepatology as a subspecialtystarted to evolve separately. GI endoscopy had alsobecome more sophisticated, and endoscopists soon had todevelop special skills to perform more difficult procedures suchas endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) andendoscopic resection of early cancers. GI endoscopy has alsonow evolved into a separate field.