Dr Mathew Keegan

08/03/2026

Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in Australian women under 50 (third overall). Unfortunately, Australia has the highest incidence of early onset colorectal cancer in the world. What can we do to reverse this rising tide?



Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your healthcare. The contents of this post is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition.

01/03/2026

One of the most important parts of medicine is helping patients understand what’s happening and why. I think understanding reduces fear and increases the collaborative relationship between doctor and patient. That’s why I often use analogies in clinic to make complex medical concepts more accessible.

Sensitivity and specificity aren’t just academic terms. They influence how every test result is interpreted and how much weight we should put on a given test result when making decisions. A test result is rarely assessed in isolation.

Healthcare works best as a partnership. When patients understand the reasoning behind investigations (what a test can and cannot tell you), it becomes easier to ask thoughtful questions, avoid unnecessary anxiety, and avoid false reassurance.

Understanding strengthens the discussion.

This is Part 1. In Part 2, we’ll look at how this applies to different types of tests your specialist might recommend — and why context always matters.



Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your healthcare. The contents of this post is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition.

20/01/2026

I just got back from an outstanding (Endoscopic Submucosal ) training week in Limoges and wanted to acknowledge what Jérémie Jacques has built there.

Jérémie has been a major force in the development of ESD in the West for many years - developing a high-quality unit in Limoges, helping shape the French national training pathway, and contributing important work that has made ESD more effective, safer and more efficient. This Int’l ESD Training Week felt like a natural extension of that work, but at a genuinely impressive scale.

The programme struck a rare balance:
- 2.5 days of hands-on lab work, 2.5 days of live cases, and a carefully structured lecture series that tied technique, strategy and training systems together;
- Leading French faculty alongside Japanese masters (where the technique was originally developed)

What stood out just as much was the group Jérémie brought together. The invited endoscopists were thoughtful, open and highly capable, which lifted the level of discussion and learning throughout the week. It was also a great time to reconnect with several of my ESD and teachers, and I leave with some excellent new mentors and fellow endoscopists from around the world which I hope will be a driver of ongoing collaboration, support and progress in ESD.

I am very grateful to Jérémie for the invitation and for the enormous amount of work he put into making the week run so smoothly. To fit so many high quality live cases into a dense schedule relied not only on incredibly impressive ESD skills and dissection speed, but I imagine also a lot of behind the scenes preparation. My thanks also to the French and Japanese faculty for their generosity with their time and expertise, to Jérémie’s fellows (Pier-Anne and Inès) for their tireless support, and to the nurses, anaesthetists and staff who made the clinical and lab work possible.

It was a week of very high-quality training, clear shared admiration between local and Japanese faculty, and a great degree of consideration evidenced in all details. I left Limoges better trained, better connected, and hugely impressed by what has been created there.

14/10/2025

Could iron deficiency (with or without anaemia) point to a gastrointestinal issue? Read the post above 👆🏻 to find out more.



Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your healthcare. The contents of this post is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition.

09/06/2025

Know the symptoms of bowel cancer. If you’re experiencing any of these or have concerns, don’t delay, seek advice from your GP. I cannot reiterate this enough: early detection saves lives.



💬 Read through, save it for later, and share with someone it might be helpful for.



Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your healthcare. The contents of this post is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition.

11/05/2025

🩺 Screening vs. Surveillance: What’s the Difference — and Why Should You Care?

Some questions I’ve been asked:

👉 “Why am I only having a colonoscopy every 5 years but my friend goes every 3?”
👉 “Can I just do one every year to be safe?”
👉 “What even is the difference between screening and surveillance?”

The difference matters more than you think.

This carousel breaks it down:
🔹 What is screening and what is surveillance?
🔹 Who needs what, when, and why
🔹 Why more isn’t always better
🔹 How to understand what schedule might be right for you ideally based on your medical history and circumstances
🔹 Why your doctor might advise a plan for you that’s different from someone you know

💬 Read through, save it for later, and share with someone it might be helpful for.



Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your healthcare. The contents of this post is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition.

02/04/2025

Progress. A few decades of consistent practice, and I suspect a lot of inspiration and reflection between the two

01/04/2025

Outing myself as a nerd by explaining how much fun I had spending most the weekend in a lecture theatre in Canberra.

I just returned from Australia in Canberra, a fantastic national meeting bringing together advanced endoscopists and gastroenterologists performing endoscopic ultrasound (EUS).

This event, supported by and hosted by Dr. Vipul Aggarwal and Dr. Perveen Aslam, was a fantastic forum for discussing the complexities of caring for patients with disease and a broad range of abdominal and gastrointestinal conditions.

Many of the challenges we face in this field are not straightforward. The ability to openly discuss difficult cases, share insights, and refine our approaches is essential—not just for advancing our own expertise but also for improving patient outcomes.

These conversations also help identify gaps that need to be addressed, whether through policy, technology, or training.

While it was fruitful leaning from each others’ experience, the involvement of international experts international from Japan, Hong Kong, and India, working in units with case beyond beyond any we see in Australia was invaluable and inspiring.

Meetings like this strengthen our field and help support the next generation of specialists coming through.

On a lighter note, it’s also a lot of fun getting together with old friends and making some new ones.

Many thanks for Vipul and Perveen for organising a great event.

Now on my way to to continue the GI nerding and catch up with old friends from my time in the UK, France and Belgium

17/02/2025

I talk about risk with patients every day. It’s one of the most important—and misunderstood—parts of medicine. Understandably, we often want certainty, but the reality is, very little in medicine is black and white. Risk isn’t about absolutes; it’s about probabilities, context, and making the best possible decision.

A good discussion about risk should inform, not confuse or scare us. If someone only speaks in absolutes—‘this will definitely work’ or ‘this will never happen’—it’s worth asking more questions. Medicine is about balancing risks and benefits, and understanding that doing nothing carries risk too.

The goal isn’t to eliminate risk—that’s impossible. The goal is to understand it, manage it, and make informed choices with confidence.



Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your healthcare. The contents of this post is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition.

18/01/2025

19/11/2024

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. One thing that makes pancreatic cancer hard to diagnose is that there are usually no signs or symptoms in the early stages, and symptoms may appear when the cancer has already become large enough to affect nearby organs or spread to other parts of the body.

This is where knowing your risk factors, screening and surveillance come in. Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) is one of the most common imaging procedures used to diagnose pancreatic cancer. If you’d like to learn more about EUS, visit drmathewkeegan.com/procedures.

There are many resources available on pancreatic cancer via .anz , among many others. Awareness goes a long way. If you’re concerned about your risk factors or experience symptoms, talk to your GP. Early detection and diagnosis can save lives.



Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only. This is not medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your healthcare. The contents of this post is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition.