Foreword

In this book, professors Ioan Sporea and Alina Popescu from the Medical University of Timişoara have put together important contributions to highlight the enormous progress that has been made in gastroenterology and hepatology in recent years. With an outstanding faculty, the state-of-the-art in diagnosis, management, and treatment of digestive diseases is illustrated. In 33 chapters relating to the most interesting and pressing issues in the field, the reader is informed about current optimal practice and standards of care in gastroenterology and hepatology. The spectrum of subjects goes from pulmonary manifestations of gastroesophageal reflux disease and management of Barrett‘s oesophagus to neuroendocrine tumours and hepatocellular carcinoma. Screening for the most common tumour in the digestive tract, colon cancer, and postpolypectomy care to prevent interval cancer are as important as is the management of liver disease caused by viral hepatitis. The very modern times in our field are represented by the use of telemedicine in hepatology and artificial intelligence to improve diagnostic accuracy in endoscopy. Many high-quality endoscopic pictures and sonographic images highlight the remarkable technical progress with these techniques. When I was a fellow in gastroenterology many years ago, the only thing we had at patient conferences was radiographs after administering barium sulphate: barium swallow, upper GI-series, as we called it, small bowel follow-through, and barium enema. Look also at the capsule endoscopy in this book, and you will see that we have come a long way! Congratulations to the editors and authors for demonstrating this progress so impressively!