Pediatric Gastroenterology Blog

About Jay Hochman -Pediatric Gastroenterology Blog

I am a pediatric gastroenterologist at GI Care for Kids (previously called CCDHC) in Atlanta, Georgia. The goal of my blog is to share some of my reading in my field more broadly. In addition, I wanted to provide my voice to a wide range of topics that often have inaccurate or incomplete information.

Why I blog | gutsandgrowth

Before starting this blog, I would tear out articles from journals and/or keep notes in a palm pilot. This blog helps provide an updated source of information that is easy to access and search, along with links to useful multimedia sources.

I was born and raised in Chattanooga. After graduating from the University of Virginia, I attended Baylor College of Medicine. I completed residency and fellowship training at the University of Cincinnati at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center. I received funding from the National Institutes of Health for molecular biology research of the gastrointestinal tract. I have authored numerous publications/presentations including original research, case reports, review articles, and textbook chapters on various pediatric gastrointestinal problems.

Currently, I am the section chief for pediatric gastroenterology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite and head of the section of nutrition for the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In addition, I am an adjunct Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. Other society memberships have included the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Food Allergy Network, the American Gastroenterology Association, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

Peptic Ulcer Disease

Peptic Ulcers Are of Two Types

In common terms Ulcer means an open sore and word peptic is related to acid so Peptic ulcer means an open sore due to acid in Gastrointestinal tract.

In medical terms Peptic ulcer is an open sore which develops in the lining of gastro-intestinal tract that causes pain in stomach.

Peptic ulcers are of two types

1. Gastric ulcer – which is located in the inner lining of the stomach.
2. Duodenal ulcer – which is located in the duodenum or beginning of small intestine.

Both ulcers penetrate the muscularis mucosa but erosions do not penetrate the muscularis mucosa.
Peptic ulcer may be acute or chronic

Looking Back - A Journey with Colon Cancer: I'm back

Looking Back - A Journey with Colon Cancer: I'm back:

No the cancer is not back, but I am.

Had you for a second there didn't I?

I'm very pleased to be working with both Colon Cancer Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society this year, and I'm here to let you know that March is Colon Cancer Awareness month. And since I am so fortunate to call so many of you friends, I'm also here to remind you that like me, you are probably about 50 this year, and that means it's time for you to get screened.

It will be a major mission in the rest of my life to beat the drum about awareness, prevention and screening of colon cancer, because I don't want what happened to me to happen to you.

As they say at the Canadian Cancer Society, make your bottom your top priority!

Colon cancer is the number two cancer killer, yet it is 90% treatable when caught early.

Getting checked can help find colon cancer early, or even prevent it from happening before it starts. This is why it is so important to check for the disease before you have symptoms. In 2012, an estimated 8,700 Ontarians were diagnosed with colon cancer and approximately 3,450 people died from the disease.

Make your bottom your top priority. Talk to your doctor about getting checked for colon cancer every two years, once you turn 50.

Getting checked for colon cancer could be as easy as taking an at-home stool test (also known as the fecal occult blood test – FOBT).

If you’re at high risk for colon cancer, talk to your doctor about other colon cancer screening options.

Diet - Atkins Diet: Weight Loss and Better Lipids Don’t Lie

Diet - Atkins Diet: Weight Loss and Better Lipids Don’t Lie

The low carbohydrate Atkin’s diet invites controversy and skepticism.

After all, how could a diet laden with fats, cheese, and red meat be good for you? How could it help you lose weight? How could it lower your blood cholesterol or your blood fats leading to those fatty cholesterol plaques?

It doesn’t make sense. It’s just plain counterintuitive. Besides, its creator, the late Doctor Robert Atkins, was an unabashed self-promoter, writing best selling diet books and building a company to make Atkins diet products. No self-respecting doctor toots his own horn. He relies on scientific evidence.

The evidence has just arrived. A July 17 New England Journal Report, in a “tightly controlled” 2 year, 23 author study of 322 overweight Israelis, compares low-carbohydrate, Mediterranean, and low-fat diets It finds Atkins dieters lost more weight, lowered their “bad” cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) more, boosted their “good” cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) more, reduced their triglycerides more, and dropped their ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol more.

How could this be? Well, figures don’t lie.

Here Is A Quick Cure For All About Hepatitis – Overview & Basics

Hepatitis is a condition of inflammation of the liver, which is mainly caused by excessive use of illegal drugs, alcohol and certain medical conditions. Another most common cause of this disease is virus, known as Viral Hepatitis, which can spread through unhygienic conditions and being in physical contact with a carrier. There are three common variables of the disease i.e. Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

Symptoms of Hepatitis:

In the early weeks after infection, there are no visible symptoms and this phase is known as acute phase. As the disease worsens the patient starts experiencing symptoms such as jaundice, fatigue, nausea, mild fever, belly pain and poor appetite. The advancement of this disease is so slow that even Hep B and C patients don’t show any symptoms for many years until they become chronic.

Basics of Hepatitis A:

Hepatitis A is highly contagious and can spread from one person to another in different situations. It normally spreads through contaminated food and water. Food can be stained with the virus when the infected person touches it without washing hands after using washroom. Fruits, vegetables, raw shellfish and under cooked food are also some common culprits for spreading the virus. It usually cause very mild illness due to which many people don’t even know that they are infected with the virus.

Read Complete Article: Here Is A Quick Cure For All About Hepatitis – Overview & Basics

DIVERTICULOSIS & DIVERTICULITIS

bLOG lINK: DIVERTICULOSIS & DIVERTICULITIS – OVERVIEW, SYMPTOMS, DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT

WHAT IS DIVERTICULOSIS?

The large intestine or colon is a long tube like structure approx. 5-6 feet in length which stores and eliminates waste material that is left over after the food is digested in the small intestine. It is usually thought that the walls of the colon become thick with the age of a person which causes increased pressure required by colon to eliminate feces and even small, hard stools are difficult to pass and need increased pressure to pass. These repeated high pressures in the colon push the inner lining of the intestine outward through weak muscle areas in the shape of a small sac or bulging pocket. This small bulging sac pushing outward from colonic wall is called a Diverticulum, while more than one sac called as Diverticula. The Diverticula can form throughout the colon but they are most commonly form near the last portion of the intestine, which referred as Sigmoid Colon. The condition of having Diverticula in the lining of the colon is called Diverticulosis.

It is common in people living in Western countries while the condition is rare in Asia and Africa. The condition increases with the age of a person and it occurs 10% in people over the age of 40 and 50% in people over the age of 60. Complications, which can be severe and need treatment, are very rare as they occur in 20% of people having Diverticulosis.

WHAT IS DIVERTICULAR BLEEDING?

One of the complications of the Diverticular disease is Diverticular bleeding or rectal bleeding which occurs when small blood vessels situated next to Diverticula become injured. If you experience bleeding then immediately consult the doctor.

ACID REFLUX – 6 SILENT SIGNS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Whenever we eat, chew and swallow the food, it passes from our throat to the stomach through the esophagus, which is hollow muscular tube whose purpose is to transport the food from throat to the stomach. At the end of the esophagus and the entrance of stomach, there is a valve which is actually a ring of muscle fibers called as Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES). The function of LES is to close soon after the food has entered into the stomach and prevents the stomach acids – which are necessary for food digestion – going back to the esophagus because they can cause serious damage to the lining of esophagus. Sometimes LES doesn’t close too tightly as it should be or remains open which results in the leakage of stomach acidic contents back into the esophagus and this backward action of stomach acids is called as Acid Reflux. If this condition continues for more than two weeks then it becomes chronic and this severe form of Acid Reflux is called Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).

WHAT ARE THE 6 SILENT SIGNS OF ACID REFLUX THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW?

The most common sign and symptom of Acid Reflux is heartburn which is a burning pain that moves from your stomach to the chest or abdomen or even towards your mouth. But there are some other signs of Acid Reflux that we normally ignore in our everyday life and didn’t take them seriously which results in worsening the condition. Let’s see the 6 silent signs of the condition:

Difference Between Pain in chest & Heart disease?

Read GI Endoscopy Practice's answer to What is the difference between the pain in chest arise from gastric and pain from heart attack or heart disease? on Quora