Year in Review: Selection of Best Papers in Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2024.

This review addresses selected topics in gastroenterology and hepatology that are of interest and relevance to general internists. The topics were selected on the basis of publications in 2024 in top general medicine journals (New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Annals of Internal Medicine, Lancet), often complemented with publications in the top gastroenterology journals pertaining to the same themes. General internists may be the primary providers for some of these diseases or the first to evaluate symptoms-such as uncontrolled heartburn; dysphagia, which is increasingly recognized as being associated with allergic mechanisms including eosinophil infiltration of the esophagus; irritable bowel syndrome; and the effects of incretin therapies (glucagon-like peptide 1 and glucagon-dependent insulinotropic peptide agonists) on obesity, metabolic-associated steatohepatitis, or steatotic liver diseases-and to screen for colorectal cancer by novel blood or stool markers. Alternatively, internists may provide continuity of care for more complex diseases, including a novel diagnostic approach to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, immunotherapy for locally advanced mismatch repair-deficient colorectal cancer, and treatment of rarer liver diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis. These topics illustrate impressive advances in 2024 in the diagnosis and management of diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract and liver.