Orlando Health opens state-of-the-art digestive center
Global experts will use latest technology to treat complex GI conditions
Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute is bringing its internationally recognized digestive disease care to a new state-of-the-art facility in downtown Orlando, with advanced endoscopic services starting to be offered this month.
The facility also will provide expansive space for one of the country’s most highly regarded comprehensive programs for complex digestive conditions. Physicians practicing here include global experts in their specialties: Dr. Shyam Varadarajulu, Dr. Robert Hawes, Dr. Udayakumar Navaneethan and Dr. Ji Young Bang.
On the main Orlando Health campus south of downtown, the new facility will open in two phases with completion in the late summer. This month, dedicated inpatient and outpatient services will open to support the Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute Center for Advanced Endoscopy, Research and Education (CARE). The newly formed CARE unit incorporates the latest artificial intelligence technologies to optimize clinical outcomes and maximize research productivity.
“Our new facility will offer comprehensive general and subspecialized care in digestive
diseases to our patients and an opportunity to be part of leading-edge clinical trials that bring with them innovations and treatment options not available elsewhere,” says Dr. Varadarajulu, president of Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute.
The institute brings together comprehensive general and subspecialized care in:
• General gastroenterology
• Advanced endoscopy
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Motility
• Hepatology
• Pancreatology Patients will have access to the most advanced treatments and CARE’s integrations of newer technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.
Center of excellence
Having digestive medical expertise and the latest medical technology under one roof will make the Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute a national and international destination for care.
Hospital leaders expect the institute to serve as a referral center of excellence for physicians around the globe. Integrating advanced audiovisual technology will enable seamless live transmission of surgical procedures to a global physician audience and the creation of high-quality, video-based educational and training materials.
Complex treatments
Upon completion of both phases, the CARE unit will
house six fully integrated endoscopy suites, stateof-the-art endoscopic and fluoroscopic technologies, and areas for observation and education.
Advanced endoscopic services offered at CARE will include:
• Diagnostic and interventional endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
• Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL)
• Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
• Advanced tissue resection to include endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR)
• Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), luminal stenting and hemostasis for
gastrointestinal bleeding
• Procedural services such as third-space endoscopy encompassing peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) and submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER)
• Double balloon enteroscopy and motorized spiral enteroscopy for management of small bowel diseases
The research component of CARE will lead multi-center randomized trials in necrotizing pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, endoscopic resection/ dissection of GI neoplasia and validate the utility of
AI in improving endoscopic outcomes. Orlando Health hospitals are recognized among the best in the nation by the IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals study for 2021.