Gastroenterology clinics of North America
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In evaluating the pregnant patient with abdominal pain, the physician is presented with a wide range of diagnostic possibilities, including disorders that can occur in nonpregnant individuals and disorders that are unique to pregnancy. The development of modern laboratory testing methods and diagnostic imaging techniques has led to a decline in the morbidity and mortality from many of these disorders. With an understanding of the physiologic changes occurring during pregnancy, a careful history and physical examination, and judicious use of laboratory tests and imaging studies, the physician should be able to determine the cause of the patient's pain in the great majority of cases and, in the words of Babler, avoid "the mortality of delay."
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Gastroenterol. Clin. North Am. · Mar 1998
ReviewColon cancer during pregnancy. The gastroenterologist's perspective.
Colon cancer during pregnancy is uncommon but not rare, with an estimated incidence of several hundred cases per year in the United States. This type of cancer tends to have a poor prognosis that is attributable to delays in diagnosis and advanced disease at diagnosis. ⋯ Pregnancy affects the diagnostic evaluation and therapy of colon cancer because of fetal risks of diagnostic tests and therapy. Appropriate medical evaluation of significant lower gastrointestinal complaints during pregnancy can lead to an earlier and improved diagnosis.
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Gastroenterol. Clin. North Am. · Dec 1997
ReviewQuality and outcomes management in gastroenterology.
The delivery of medical care is undeniably changing. Resources are becoming increasingly scarce, and the progressive rise of health care expenditures needs to be restrained. Although the field of outcomes assessment is not well understood, it is increasingly being applied to the practice of medicine. ⋯ Although reduction of health care costs is important, it should be a secondary goal. Providers of health care must take an active role in outcomes research and management both in understanding and in implementing these techniques in medical practice. In doing so, it is essential that physicians maintain the proper emphasis on quality patient care.
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Gastroenterol. Clin. North Am. · Dec 1996
ReviewNonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, eicosanoids, and colorectal cancer prevention.
A concise review of the literature that evaluates the risk of colorectal cancer among NSAID users has been presented. Animal studies document a protective effect of NSAIDs in preventing colorectal cancers in carcinogen-induced (AOM) models and in Min mice. NSAIDs are protective in the animal model, even if given 14 weeks after administration of the carcinogen, indicating that these agents must be acting early in the adenoma-to-carcinoma sequence. ⋯ The authors have also reported a dramatic increase in COX-2 expression in colon tumors that develop in rats after AOM treatment. Drugs are currently being developed that preferentially inhibit either COX-1 or COX-2. If COX-2 is found to be a relevant target in the prevention of colorectal cancer, these newly developed, selective NSAIDs may play a role in future chemoprevention strategies.
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This article deals with cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinococcosis in humans caused by the cestode parasites Echinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis. The life cycles of these parasites and their epidemiologic aspects are briefly discussed, and a detailed review is presented on clinical aspects of the diseases, including diagnosis and therapy. Considerable progress has been made in chemotherapy but the results are not yet satisfactory. A new alternative for treatment of CE is puncture of cysts, aspiration of fluid, injection of ethanol, and reaspiration of fluid (PAIR).