Digestive Health | Augusta University Health (2024)

If you’re dealing with the symptoms of a digestive disorder, you deserve an expert team you can trust to provide answers and relief. We offer:

• Expertise: We have earned national recognition in treating motility and neurogastroenterology conditions. Also, individuals across Augusta’s River Region and beyond trust us to successfully remove challenging polyps and manage complicated acid reflux.
• Innovation: Our doctors have played a key role in developing treatments for constipation and diarrhea, including anal rectal manometry with biofeedback. They’ve also contributed to developing multiple breath tests for food intolerances.
• Leading motility care: Our center offers the largest motility clinic in the United States. It is one of only 10 in the nation designated as a Center of Excellence by the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society, the highest level of recognition for motility care.
• Advanced diagnostic testing: We offer motility and neurogastroenterology testing. These tests look for problems with the muscles and nerves that break down and move food through your digestive tract.
• Latest technology: We use the Halo System, radiofrequency ablation technology, to treat Barrett’s esophagus by delicately removing precancerous cells in the esophagus. We also use Stretta therapy to treat acid reflux in individuals who aren’t good candidates for surgery.
• Teamwork: Our doctors team up to treat digestive disorders through biweekly conferences with pathology and monthly conferences with surgeons. Our gastroenterologists work closely with our gastrointestinal surgeons, often making it possible for them to see you together at one visit for your convenience.
• Collaboration: Our experts work with other Augusta University Health specialists across multiple fields of medicine, such as oncologists, pathologists and radiologists. We work hand-in-hand with our institution’s very own Georgia Cancer Center and will ensure you get the care you need when you need it.
• Clinical trials: We are working to identify new ways to treat and diagnose digestive disorders. We are exploring the possibility of using already-approved drugs in new ways to improve digestive health. We are also constantly working to expand our noninvasive testing options to make diagnosis easier on you.

Digestive health experts trained to care for your specific problem

Our team includes board-certified, fellowship-trained specialists from all fields of gastroenterology. Fellowship training allows doctors to deepen their knowledge in a subspecialty within their field and earn the highest level of medical training available.Our team of doctors includes:

• Gastroenterologists, including therapeutic endoscopy, irritable bowel disease and motility specialists, doctors who diagnose and treat a full range of routine digestive disorders
• Hepatologists, specialists who diagnose and treat conditions of the biliary, gallbladder, liver and pancreas
• Bariatric surgeons, specialists who perform weight-loss surgeries to change how your digestive system works to help you lose weight after diet and exercise haven’t worked
• Minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgeons, specialists who operate using small incisions and special equipment to treat a wide range of digestive disorders
• Advanced practice providers, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who’ve earned master’s degrees in clinical care and manage your care under the supervision of our doctors

We treat the full spectrum of digestive disorders, from routine to complex — such as acid reflux, liver disease, colon polyps, rectal bleeding and inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease and colitis. And when it comes to those that are complex, we have a whole team of subspecialists who are equipped to help you navigate all conditions and levels of severity.

We offer routine and advanced treatments for:

• Biliary/pancreatic conditionsaffecting the bile duct, gallbladder and pancreas, such as gallstones stuck in the bile duct, bile duct narrowing or cancer, as well as pancreatitis and masses in the pancreas
• Colon and rectal conditions, such as polyps and cancer
• Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
• Liver disease, including cancer, hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Motility and neurogastroenterology conditions affecting the muscles and nerves that control digestion, including dysphagia, gastroparesis, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating, constipation and fecal incontinence

We offer a full range of diagnostic tests and gastrointestinal disease treatments, including minimally invasive procedures. We also use the latest technology available for performing colonoscopy, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and endoscopic ultrasound, endoscopy, fluoroscopy and motility testing.

Whether you come to our center with a diagnosis or not, we begin by performing the necessary diagnostic tests so we can provide effective solutions. While we perform a diagnostic procedure, we are often able to perform the necessary treatment.

Learn more about the gastrointestinal disease treatment and tests we offer within each organ disease-specific area or center:

• General Gastroenterology
• Advanced Endoscopy
• Biliary/Pancreatic
• Obesity and Metabolism
• Colon and Rectum­
• Liver Disease
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Gastric Motility Care

Support services

If you’re managing a digestive disorder and its symptoms, we’ll provide you with the resources you need to feel your best, both inside and out. We offer:

• Nutrition counseling through our certified dietitians to complement your doctor’s care plan and help you manage symptoms
• Psychiatry before and during all stages of treatment at the Center for Obesity and Metabolism to give you the tools you need to reach and maintain your weight loss goals