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Home  >  Medical Research Archives  >  Issue 149  > Utility of Video Consultation in Digestive Diseases
Published in the Medical Research Archives
Dec 2020 Issue

Utility of Video Consultation in Digestive Diseases

Published on Dec 19, 2020

DOI 

Abstract

 

Introduction: Despite the rise of video consultation, most consultations in patients with digestive diseases tend to be face-to-face.

 Objective and Methods: In 2016, gastroenterology video consultation was implemented in the hospital. A prospective and descriptive study of a series of patients attended consecutively by video consultation by a gastroenterology specialist for 50 months. We have analyzed which syndromes and digestive diseases are susceptible to being performed by video consultation.

Results: Two hundred fifty patients were selected (100 during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic), 50.4% men and 49.6% women, with a mean age of 48 (SD 18-9) years. The main reason for the consultation of the 142 patients (56.8%) with definitive diagnoses was: dyspepsia, hepatobiliary disease, diarrhea, gastroesophageal reflux, and irritable bowel syndrome. The final diagnosis was dyspepsia (21%), hepatobiliary disease (16%), diarrhea (9%), irritable bowel syndrome (8.4%), intolerances (including gluten intolerance and sensitivity) (8.4%), gastroesophageal reflux disease (7,7%), and inflammatory bowel disease (6.3%). The concordance between the diagnostic impression and the definitive diagnosis was 60%.

 Conclusions: Video consultation in gastroenterology is an effective alternative to the face-to-face visit, used equally in patients of both sexes, where dyspepsia is the main reason for consultation and diagnosis. During the first 3 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of video consultations increased 10 times. The main pathologies diagnosed were dyspepsia and hepatobiliary diseases.

Author info

César Serra, Modesto Lorenzo, Tania Serra

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