Israeli-developed HyGIeaCare® Center now open in collaboration with Gastrointestinal & Liver Specialists of Tidewater
A new HyGIeaCare Center, where patients experience simple and easy bowel prep on the same day as their scheduled colonoscopy, recently opened at the Amelia Building in Norfolk, in collaboration with Gastrointestinal & Liver Specialists of Tidewater, PLLC.
The Center features the HyGIeaCare Prep System, cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to effectively clean the bowel using a gentle infusion of warm, gravity-flow filtered water. This method allows patients to forgo many of the elements that make traditional bowel prep inconvenient and uncomfortable.
“The HyGIeaCare Prep will allow our patients to prep effectively and easily—this is a game changer,” says David A. Johnson MD, MD MACG FASGE FACP, professor of Medicine and chief of Gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Johnson practices gastroenterology at the Norfolk location. “Our patients will be able to undergo same day prep in a safe, private and hygienic environment at the HyGIeaCare Center. We are one of the first Centers in the country to offer exclusive referral to the HyGIeaCare technology—it is way more than exciting to provide this as an option to our patients!”
Good bowel cleansing is the key to a successful colonoscopy and early cancer prevention. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer in the U.S. It typically begins as abnormal growths called polyps, which can be detected and removed during a colonoscopy, lowering the risk of death from the disease by more than half.
Delivering better GI outcomes
Up to one-quarter of all colonoscopies are reported to have inadequate bowel preparation, which can hinder these reports.
The reasons for inadequate prep varies, including poor compliance with preparation instructions; having a medical condition such as diabetes, that makes drinking large quantities of water difficult; and physical impairments. A bowel that is not adequately cleansed can result in a missed polyp or cancer, a longer procedure time, and a repeat colonoscopy at much shorter intervals than if adequate cleansing.
“We are continuing to expand the HyGIeaCare footprint with our improved method to prep prior to colonoscopy,” says Gabi Meron, chairman and CEO of HyGIeaCare, Inc.
Meron is one of Israel’s top medical devices pioneers, co-founding Given Imaging, an Israeli medical technology company that manufactures and markets diagnostic products, including the capsule endoscopy technology for the visualization and detection of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.
The convenience of simple, same-day prep.
At the HyGIeaCare Center, the prep is performed in a clean and comfortable environment. A trained prep-tech leads the patient to a private room where he or she is seated on a comfortable lounge table. The prep-tech walks the patient through the procedure, which routinely takes less than one hour. A small, sterile, disposable nozzle is easily inserted into the rectum and a gentle and comfortable stream of warm water flows into the bowel, loosening stool and causing the intestine to contract allowing for the comfortable and discreet evacuation of the colon. Water continues to gently flow until the prep-tech determines the colon has been sufficiently cleansed.
The HyGIeaCare Prep replaces traditional prep for colonoscopy and is performed just prior to the scheduled colonoscopy. Patients say this prep is simple, comfortable and convenient.