Klaus Gottlieb, MD, MBA, a Clinical Professor of Medicine at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., shares highlights from the ASGE Report on Emerging Technology “Magnets in the GI tract.” 

Produced by the ASGE Technology Committee, the focus of this Emerging Technology Report is magnet related techniques and devices that are of interest to the endoscopist.

The varied applications of magnets in the GI tract have not previously been reviewed. This document pulls it all together. There are some promising developments out there which deserve to be more widely known, such as the creation of magnetic compression anastomoses. Some of the other magnet-related techniques, such as magnet-assisted feeding tube placement, are already commercially available.

Sometimes patients hear about the latest and greatest, such as the Linx® magnetic anti-reflux device, and reading reports on emerging technologies allows the clinician to put this into perspective.

Magnet applications in the GI tract are a fertile field for endoscopic research.

Find the report here.

Figure 4. Principle of magnetic compression anastomosis. Two ring magnets opposed to each another will compress the opposing walls of, for example, bowel loops. Pressure necrosis occurs, and within a few weeks an anastomosis will be created. Smaller magnets may pass spontaneously but may not create a large enough lumen.

Reprinted with permission from Elsevier: Jamshidi R, Stephenson JT, Clay JG, et al. Magnamosis: magnetic compression anastomosis with comparison to suture and staple techniques. J Ped Surg 2009;44, 222-8.