GASTROINTESTINAL MOTILITY AND FUNCTIONAL BOWEL DISORDERS, SERIES #14

Eduardo D. Rosas-Blum, Aldo Maspons

In this article we discuss the following questions: Are there asymptomatic patients that should be screened for malrotation? If malrotation is found, what should the next step be? Should an elective Ladd's procedure be performed or should observation be instituted?

GASTROINTESTINAL MOTILITY AND FUNCTIONAL BOWEL DISORDERS, SERIES #14

Richard W. McCallum, Roy P. Liu, Asmik Asatrian

Small bowel malrotation is the lack of or incomplete rotation of the intestines around the axis of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) during embriologic development. Currently computed tomography (CT) is the best imaging modality to demonstrate findings of small bowel malrotation such as inversion of the SMA and superior mesenteric vein (SMV). In symptomatic patients, Ladd's surgery is the best treatment option. However, in asymptomatic patients management is controversial. In this article we provide a rational approach for diagnosis and summarize treatment options available.

NUTRITION ISSUES IN GASTROENTEROLOGY, #149

Guillermo E. Solorzano, Rahul Guha

Historically, thiamine deficiency has been associated with alcoholism, but there are several other populations that are at risk including post-operative gastrointestinal surgery patients and those on parenteral nutrition. The clinical manifestation of thiamine deficiency is often classified as Wernicke's Encephalopathy. It is identified as a triad of mental status changes, eye movement abnormalities and unsteadiness of gait with poor balance. This article describes the clinical features of thiamine deficiency, its manifestations, and the use of thiamine supplementation as treatment for this condition.

FRONTIERS IN ENDOSCOPY, SERIES # 25

Robert Mitchell, Douglas G. Adler

Biliary and pancreatic stents are primarily used for the treatment of benign and malignant strictures of the biliary tract and pancreatic duct, among other indications. A recognized complication of the use of these stents is migration, which can be source of significant morbidity and mortality. Although distal migration is more common, proximally migrated stents can be challenging to retrieve and can create clinical problems for patients. The purpose of this article is to review current literature regarding migration of pancreatic and biliary stents, particularly proximal migration, and the techniques used to retrieve them.

A SPECIAL ARTICLE

Alexander Gerald Chen, Kheng-Jim Lim

The medical field abounds in criteria to aid in the diagnosis of diseases. Traditionally, classification schemes were named after individuals, giving rise to numerous medical eponyms (e.g. Ranson’s criteria), however, of late, eponyms have been abandoned and toponyms, names based on places, have come into vogue (e.g. the Atlanta criteria). Most of the observations in modern medicine cannot be credited solely to an individual as the majority of today’s research is produced by joint effort, thus the simpler solution is use the name of the locale where the experts met and analyzed the research to formulate the guidelines. In this article our aim is to summarize the criteria in gastroenterology and assess their impact by using the citation indexing database 'Web of Science' managed by Thomson Reuters.

A CASE REPORT

Zachary S. Neubert, Mark Potter

Departments Section