Memorial offers advanced endoscopy services, looking to cut hospital stays

PAWTUCKET – Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island is now offering advanced therapeutic endoscopy services to diagnose and treat cancer, and other conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, led by Dr. Nithin Karanth, a board-certified and fellowship-trained interventional gastroenterologist.
The program offers patients a shorter recovery time, less pain, fewer complications, less bleeding and shorter or avoided hospital stays, Memorial said in a news release.
The procedures now available at Memorial’s Endoscopy Center include endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration, which is used to evaluate esophageal, gastric, pancreatic and rectal cancers, and determine the best way to treat them.
The technique is also used for diagnosis and drainage of pancreatic cysts and for management of pain in pancreatic cancer patients.
Other advanced procedures being offered by Karanth can help patients with surgically altered anatomy, such as a prior gastric bypass surgery, and people with certain types of lesions in the gastrointestinal tract.
The purpose of all these techniques is to provide a safe, less-invasive way to diagnose and treat a wide variety of disorders, from early-stage cancers to gallstones and acid reflux.
Karanth is one of only a few gastroenterologists in Rhode Island who practice advanced interventional techniques, according to Memorial, and the hospital’s facility is the only one in Rhode Island where single-balloon enteroscopy is performed.
Karanth did his residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and completed fellowship training at Drexel University in Philadelphia and Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.