Current topics on digestive disease in Korea

This is a summary of the research topics, of current interest, relating to digestive disease in Korea. This review is based on the subjects of the papers that were accepted for presentation at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Korean Society of Gastroenterology and the 39th Semiannual Meeting of the Korean Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy held November 22–24, 1995, in Seoul. The most popular topics were on Helicobacter pylori infection. These included experimental papers on the pathogenesis of bacteria‐associated gastritis and the duodenal ulcer. Recently, the increase in the number of papers published on the motility of the gastrointestinal and pancreaticobiliary tracts is quite remarkable. Molecular genetic works on oncogenesis using cultured tumour cell lines, on the enzyme expression in the biopsied mucosal cells of the small intestine, and on the various expressions of viral genomes in the hepatocytes are among these recent topics of research. Clinical works, such as therapeutic endoscopy in malignant diseases and therapeutic trials in the hepatitis virus‐associated chronic liver diseases are also popular topics.