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42 GI & ENDOSCOPY SECTION New Edibles in Development for Colonoscopy Prep: 5 Things to Know By Carrie Pallardy C olonoscopy preparation is one of the biggest barriers when it comes to colorectal cancer screening, but the distasteful pro- cess may be about to change. Here are five things to know about potential colonoscopy prep alterna- tives, according to a Medscape report. 1. A small pilot study presented at Digestive Disease Week examined alternatives to the unpleasant tasting and high-volume purgatives cur- rently in use. 2. e company Colonary Concepts is developing the bowel cleansing products. 3. e edible products are made with the laxative PEG-3350, sorbi- tol and ascorbic acid. Options include pasta salad, puddings, cereal, smoothies and a number of low-residue foods, according to the report. 4. e study included 10 adults who ate the food the day before and the morning of the colonoscopy. 5. e prep was successful in all 10 patients. n 5 Things to Know About the Independent Physician Landscape By Laura Dyrda e American Medical Association reports the majority of physicians are still in wholly physician-owned practice. Here are five things to know about the independent physician landscape: 1. e number of physicians in a wholly physician-owned practice decreased slightly in 2014 from 2012. But they are still the majority. Around 56.8 percent of physicians still practice in a wholly physician- owned setting. In 2012, the number was 60 percent. 2. Just over half of physicians are practice owners, a slight decrease from 53.2 percent in 2012. 3. Slightly more than 17 percent of physicians are in solo practice, a decrease from 18.4 percent in 2012. 4. e share of physicians in practices with at least some hospital own- ership increased from 23.4 percent to 25.6 percent in 2014. 5. Orthopedic and spine surgeons are among the most independent- minded specialists. ere are around 35 percent of orthopedic sur- geons working in the orthopedic group practice setting and an ad- ditional 15 percent in private practice, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. n Dr. Gary Reiss: The New Frontier in GERD & Barrett's Esophagus Treatment Gary Reiss, MD, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (New Orleans): For too long, we have been scoping GERD patients without fixing the problem. At best, we would treat the complications of GERD in our ASC with either endoscopic mucosal resection or HALO radiofrequency ablation of early cancer and Barrett's esophagus. Now, however, there are a variety of devices available to correct the underlying lower esophageal sphincter defect that drives most reflux disease. Options include non-ablative radio- frequency treatment of the lower esophageal sphincter to induce remodeling and regeneration of a damaged sphincter (the Stretta procedure) as well as devices that seek to endoscopically recreate a fundoplication, such as the TIF procedure and the MUSE system. Surgical devices to create an additional reflux barrier, such as the LINX device, are also available. e introduction of Stretta into our ASC has been particularly beneficial to patients and to our practice. It is a good fit for our endoscopy-only ASC in terms of ease of use, room turnaround time, reimbursement and patient safety profile. Because it has an established track record of almost 20,000 pro- cedures and published data showing 10-year durability, we feel comfortable that we are providing a good solution to our patients with chronic GERD. With this, and the other options available, we can now do significantly more than just scope our GERD patients and treat the complications; we can cure the disease. n subscribe today free educational up-to-date Visit beckersorthopedicandspine.com or call (800) 417-2035 BECKER'S SPINE REVIEW E-WEEKLY