Gastrointestinal Diseases

Group leader: Luis Bujanda, M.D., Ph.D.

Donostialdea IHO luis.bujanda@osakidetza.eus
Dr. Luis Bujanda Fernández de Piérola has a Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Navarra and is a Specialist in the Digestive System. Chair of Medicine at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) since 2019. Head of the Digestive System Service at the Donostia University Hospital (Donostialdea IHO) in the period 2011-2017. Dr. Bujanda is Leader of the Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases Group at the Biodonostia HRI and of the Research Group in Gastrointestinal Diseases since 2008. He is also Leader of the CIBERehd (Network Centre for Biomedical Research in Liver and Digestive Diseases) Research Group since 2008, former President of the Spanish Association of Gastroenterology (2016-2020) and current President of the Spanish Foundation of Gastroenterology. Today Dr. Bujanda has more than 420 publications in PubMed, with an h-index of 54 and more than 12,000 citations, 2,335 of which date from 2021. He has directed 17 doctoral theses, two of them international. In addition to his research career, Dr. Bujanda, in his care work, attends to a large number of patients in digestive consultations (around 40,000 until 2021), performing endoscopic and ultrasound techniques that complement his translational profile.

Strategic Objectives

  • Gastrointestinal Oncology: Cancer is the primary cause of death in men and the second in women. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common tumour as regards incidence and the second as regards mortality.
    • To determine which test is best for the early diagnosis of this disease and aspects to improve its acceptance and quality.
      • To compare the efficacy of screening using the immunological method of detecting faecal occult blood (FOB) with a colonoscopy in the intermediate risk population (asymptomatic individuals aged 50-69 years with no personal or family history of CRC) to detect CRC or advanced adenomas, in a first round of screening.
      • To assess new biochemical markers for the early diagnosis of colon cancer.
      • To assess the colonoscopy and FOB in first degree relatives of CRC.
    • To determine the genetic factors that foster its appearance, the response to treatment and the adverse effects of treatment (Epicolon I, Epicolon II, Epipolip, Epineo, Colonprev, Smarthealth and Epicolon III studies).
    • Search for new therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, hepatocarcinoma and gastric cancer.
  • Other digestive diseases: Our objective is to continue to stand out as a group in the Helicobacter pylori pathology (diagnosis and treatment), in research into the secondary gastrointestinal effects produced by the anti-inflammatories, and in other areas, such as ischemic colitis or inflammatory bowel disease.

Main lines of research

  • Gastrointestinal Oncology.
    • Colon cancer (CRC) screening.
    • Molecular bases of hereditary and familial colorectal cancer. Diagnostic and therapeutic implications.
    • Pancreatic cancer.
    • Gastric cancer
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease
    • To study the prevalence of hepatitis infection in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
  • Gastrointestinal Diseases: Helicobacter Pylori and other diseases.
    • Treatment and evolution of patients with Helicobacter pylori infection.

Team Members

Name Surname
Center E-mail
Horacio Alonso Galán OSI Donostialdea horacio.alonsogalan@osakidetza.eus
Maialen Barrero Iñiguez Onkologikoa mbarrero@onkologikoa.org
Jose María Enríquez Navascues OSI Donostialdea josemaria.enriqueznavascues@osakidetza.eus
Ane Etxart Lopetegui OSI Donostialdea
Ines Gil Lasa OSI Donostialdea ines.gillasa@osakidetza.eus
Ana Goitia Viaña OSI Donostialdea anuka.g@hotmail.com
Elizabeth Hijona Muruamendiaraz Bidonostia HRI elizabeth.hijona@bio-gipuzkoa.eus
Laura Izquierdo Sánchez Bidonostia HRI laura.izquierdo@bio-gipuzkoa.eus
Beatriz Nafria Jimenez OSI Donostialdea beatriz.nafriajimenez@osakidetza.eus

Scientific Output