Dr. Fabian Emura, of the EmuraCenter

is a gastroenterologist and general surgeon here in Bogota, who specializes in the detection and treatment of digestive cancers.  Along with his clinic, he has also created two separate divisions; a foundation for promote the prevention and detection of digestive cancers, and a medical education division – which supports training physicians world-wide in the endoscopy techniques he currently uses.

Currently, Dr. Emura is the only physician outside of China, Korea and Japan (where gastric cancer is endemic, and accounts for 20% of all cancers) who is treating early stage (stage I) cancers with endoscopic surgery versus a more radical gastrectomy.  This procedure has already been well validated in Asia, where it has been used for over a decade.

Dr. Emura has also created and implemented a classification system for the grading and staging of digestive lesions.

By using chromography endoscopy (or chromoendoscopy) and a wax dye,  doctors such as Dr. Emura are better able to visualize lesions that might otherwise be missed.

His research has also focused on differentiating colon lesions endoscopically, (to prevent unnecessary surgery for benign lesions).

He is currently working on screening guidelines (particularly for populations with higher incidence of gastric cancers such as in Colombia) because one of the main problems that still exists – is that the majority of patients with stomach cancer – are diagnosed late – when treatment options are limited and noncurative.