Robert Danbert, gastroenterologist at San Angelo Community Medical Center, was recognized Thursday as the top U.S. user in 2016 of Cellvizio, an endomicroscopy system that provides physicians with minimally invasive, microscopic images of tissue by generating optical biopsies. Danbert uses Cellvizio as a diagnostic tool for the majority of his gastroenterology cases, most often to monitor patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) to determine changes in their esophageal lining, benefiting more than 300 patients in the local area in 2016, according to a news release by The Ruth Group, a health care communications company. GERD is a chronic digestive disease that occurs when stomach acid or, occasionally, stomach content, flows back into the esophagus, irritating the esophagus lining. Both acid reflux and heartburn are common digestive conditions associated with the disease.
