Research / Clinical Summary

Thomas Savides, MD Professor, Clinical Medicine

Dr. Savides is the Clinical Service Chief for UCSD Gastroenterology and directs the UCSD Interventional Endoscopy Program. This is a referral program for advanced endoscopic procedures such as endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERCP), double-balloon endoscopy of the small intestine, capsule endoscopy, and endoscopic treatment of superficial gastrointestinal tumors.

He is a natinally known expert in the field of EUS for diagnosing and staging esophageal, rectal, pancreatic, and lung cancers. He has nearly 100 publications, most of which are related to EUS and cancer. The UCSD EUS program was the first to perform EUS in San Diego, and is the main referral EUS program in San Diego.

He is actively involved in palliative care of pancreatic and biliary cancer patients. This mostly involves placement of biliary and duodenal stents. He is also involved in pancreatic cancer treatment using EUS to inject viral vectors into the tumors, as well as placement of precise markers to guide radiation therapy.

He performs all aspects of endoscopic treatment of superficial esophageal, gastric, and rectal cancers. These are usually performed using the technique of endoscopic mucosal resection. He is also the first person in San Diego to use balloon thermal ablation to treat superficial esophageal cancer in Barrett’s esophagus.

Most recently he introduced new imaging modalities of the small intestine to San Diego. These include wireless capsule endoscopy where a swallowed pill camera sends images from the small intestine, as well as the new technology of double-balloon endoscopy which allows endoscopic visualization of the entire small intestine to detect and treat small lesions such as polyps or tumors.

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