also encourage education and learning, researchers believe.


But one of the roadblocks with registries, Dr. Singh said, is the onus it puts on staff to input data. “People are eager to join, but so many cannot dedicate the time to inputting data,” he said.


“We are in a new era of biliary intervention, and this is transforming diagnosis and treatment. The time to start getting into this space is right now—we have good data and society support to be able to shorten the learning curve significantly at this point.”


very beginning. When he joined the University of Colorado, he turned to disposable scopes.


“When I moved out to the University of Colorado, I ran into a familiar hurdle which is that the GI doctors use their scopes all the time, so there isn’t much downtime,” he said. “And that’s where the disposable scopes were transformative.”


According to Dr. Trivedi, reusable endoscopes posed a challenge due to the fact that acquiring and maintaining them can be costly—which meant only certain centers were able to afford them.


Disposable scopes, Dr. Trivedi said, have opened the door to new possibilities in his own practice. “We’ve significantly increased the number of patients we can treat and accurately diagnose with the correct biliary problem and get them to the right treatment and for a lot of patients that means a transformative change in their life, going from being catheter dependent to living drain-free and cured of their problems.”


Disposable scopes make the technology more accessible, Dr. Trivedi said.


“With disposable endoscopes, we’ve taken care of that technology component,” he said. “You don’t have to build relationships in other departments in quite the same way and be dependent


12 IRQ | SPRING 2023


on whether they are not using the scope. That was a real key. Now you can have a vendor come and provide a cholangioscope per case and you throw it away, and it’s relatively affordable when you consider reimbursement.”


Due to the rise of this new accessible technology, Dr. Trivedi believes that it’s never been a better time to get involved.


“We are in a new era of biliary intervention, and this is transforming diagnosis and treatment,” he said. “The time to start getting into this space is right now—we have good data and society support to be able to shorten the learning curve significantly at this point. And what is clear is that if it’s not in your toolkit, then there’s an inherent limitation in what you can do in terms of accuracy and effectiveness of both diagnosis and treatment.”


One way to get involved is through enrolling in the PCPS registry to share and collect data.


Collecting the data According to researchers, those who do scope work typically only do a handful of interventions each year—so they need a lot more data than each site can individually produce in order to answer questions and fully investigate the effectiveness of PCPS. The data registry will not only solve this problem, but


Following a research consensus panel held in 2022 by SIR Foundation to identify priorities regarding percutaneous image- and endoscopy- guided procedures for biliary and gallbladder diseases, the PCPS registry was awarded a grant to support Dr. Singh’s efforts.


The grant from SIR Foundation will provide financial support for a dedicated staff member at each location and enable them to spend the time required to input registry data. “Many sites could not have participated without the support offered by the grant—this grant saved the project,” Dr. Singh said.


Obtaining the grant Dr. Singh received the SIR Foundation grant through the letter of intent (LOI) process, wherein physicians interested in conducting a research trial, registry or other type of study can submit an LOI which describes the project’s significance, proposed data outcomes and intended role of SIR Foundation. Researchers can follow one of three pathways when submitting an LOI, depending on whether they would like support for a registry, trial or research consensus panel.


Conclusion Researchers hope to enroll at least 540 participants within the registry over the next five years and are seeking non- pregnant adult patients with clinical indications for the PCPS procedure. The registry is currently enrolling.


The opportunities created by the registry are likely to be transformative, Dr. Singh says.


“By having data to support the efficacy of scopes in existing procedures, it will demonstrate the utility of the scope for our IR patients.”


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