Month: July 2017

Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis,

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In GI diseases such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, the body’s immune system attacks parts of the digestive tract. Symptoms can include abdominal pain, cramping, diarrhea, rectal bleeding and extreme fatigue. The causes of the disease are unclear, and there is currently no cure.

For patients with inflammatory bowel disease, medications — including steroids, immunosuppressants or anti-inflammatory drugs — are used to slow the progression of disease. If these aren’t effective, surgery may be needed.

Inflammatory bowel diseases affect as many as 1.6 million Americans, most of whom are diagnosed before age 35, according to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

The study was published June 28 in the journal Nature.

— Robert Preidt

MedicalNews
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

SOURCE: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, news release, June 28, 2017

Acute Pancreatitis
18620290_1980185772203168_6184352632447500691_nAcute Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach and close to the duodenum—the first part of the small intestine. The pancreas secretes digestive juices, or enzymes, into the duodenum through a tube called the pancreatic duct. Pancreatic enzymes join with bile—a liquid produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder—to digest food. The pancreas also releases the hormones insulin and glucagon into the bloodstream. These hormones help the body regulate the glucose it takes from food for energy.

Normally, digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas do not become active until they reach the small intestine. But when the pancreas is inflamed, the enzymes inside it attack and damage the tissues that produce them.

 

Hiatal Hernia

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The hiatus is an opening in the diaphragm — the muscular wall separating the chest cavity from the abdomen. Normally, the esophagus (food pipe) goes through the hiatus and attaches to the stomach. In a hiatal hernia (also called hiatus hernia) the stomach bulges up into the chest through that opening.

Hiatal hernia could be caused by: Injury to the area. Being born with an unusually large hiatus. Persistent and intense pressure on the surrounding muscles, such as when coughing, vomiting or straining during a bowel movement, or while lifting heavy objects.

Most people who have a hiatal hernia have no symptoms. One symptom you may have is heartburn, which is an uncomfortable feeling of burning, warmth, or pain behind the breastbone. … Pain from the heart usually feels like pressure, heaviness, weight, tightness, squeezing, discomfort, or a dull ache.

SURGICAL REPAIR
The most common procedure of this type is called fundoplication. In this surgery, your surgeon will: First repair the hiatal hernia. This involves tightening the opening in your diaphragm with stitches to keep your stomach from bulging upward through the opening in the muscle wall.

GERD

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Gastroesophageal reflux disease
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is a digestive disorder that affects the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the ring of muscle between the esophagus and stomach. Many people, including pregnant women, suffer from heartburn or acid indigestion caused by GERD.