Gastroenterology & Hepatology

The Pediatric Aerodigestive Program provides coordinated care for infants, toddlers and adolescents with combined airway and gastrointestinal disorders.

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Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is characterized by extreme patterns of avoiding and restricting eating due to sensory/texture sensitivities, concern about gastrointestinal discomfort, or lack of appetite or interest in eating.

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Our Pediatric Celiac Program provides coordinated care for children and adolescents with possible and confirmed celiac disease and other gluten-related disorders. Our team is dedicated to the education and maintenance of a gluten-free diet to ensure that each child’s diet is well balanced. Pediatric specialists such as gastroenterologists, advanced practice providers, nurses, dietitians and social workers provide families with the tools to successfully adapt to a gluten-free lifestyle.

Treatment

Currently, the treatment available for celiac disease is to remain on a lifelong gluten-free diet. If celiac disease is left untreated there is an increased risk for developing long-term health complications. Due to the increased risk for micro-nutrient deficiencies in children with celiac disease and the restrictive nature of the gluten-free diet, close follow-up with your child’s care team is recommended.

Even after successful surgical correction of the most common congenital colorectal disorders, many patients continue to struggle with gastrointestinal symptoms including constipation and fecal incontinence.

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Eosinophilic esophagitis and other food allergies with gastrointestinal symptoms are a growing nationwide concern. Eosinophilic esophagitis, a chronic disease of the esophagus, is caused by an allergy to foods or other environmental factors.

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The Feeding Disorder Program provides coordinated care for infants, toddlers and adolescents with feeding problems.

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While medications can be effective and often necessary to treat many intestinal diseases, improved and tailored diets are key to establishing good health, preventing and treating intestinal diseases in children. Personalized nutrition, incorporating the use of functional foods can decrease or eliminate the need for long-term medications in diseases such as constipation and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Conditions

• Chronic abdominal pain
• Chronic constipation
• Colitis
• Constipation
• Food allergies
• Gastritis
• Gastrointestinal reflux
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Treatments

Our gastroenterologists are passionate about using targeted nutritional approaches to treat diseases and improve the health of children. They work closely with dietitians to review the child’s dietary history and provide specific tailored recommendations in conjunction with conventional medicines where necessary to treat diseases and improve the health and well-being of the child. By providing guidance in healthy and functional foods shown to be beneficial for specific diseases, the care team works with families to reduce the need for long-term drug therapy for various intestinal diseases.

The Pediatric Hepatology Program treats children with a wide range of liver diseases, including acute liver failure, biliary atresia and fatty liver disease.

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IB-STIM is a small electrical device worn behind the ear that stimulates cranial nerves to help reduce abdominal discomfort in patients with Disorders of Gut Brain Interaction (DGBIs), such as functional abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and functional dyspepsia, in adolescents 11 to 18 years old.

How IB-STIM works

The device is taped behind one ear and emits gentle electrical pulses which stimulates certain areas of the brain that process pain and reduce pain signaling. The device has four wires that your child’s specialist places near nerve bundles on the external ear surface. Patients wear the IB-STIM device for 120 hours (5 days) consecutively with a two-day break. This is repeated for a duration of 4 weeks.

Who can benefit from IB-STIM

IB-STIM helps adolescent patients with Disorders of Gut Brain Interaction (DGBIs) but may not be recommended for all children with these conditions. Many patients have seen a decrease in abdominal pain and other symptoms within a few weeks of wearing the device. The device is not recommended for patients with a pacemaker, hemophilia or a skin condition called psoriasis vulgaris. IB-STIM is a small electrical device worn behind the ear that stimulates cranial nerves to help reduce abdominal discomfort in patients with Disorders of Gut Brain Interaction (DGBIs), such as functional abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and functional dyspepsia, in adolescents 11 to 18 years old.

Our Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Program is dedicated to providing comprehensive and multidisciplinary management of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in children.

Learn more about Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Our Pediatric Neurogastroenterology and Motility Program provides a personalized and comprehensive assessment of children and adolescent patients who suffer from symptoms secondary to gastrointestinal dysmotility (abnormal movement) and disorders affecting the brain-gut interaction (sensation).

Learn more about Neurogastroenterology and Motility Disorders

Our Pediatric Short Bowel Rehabilitation Program cares for patients who have undergone bowel resection due to a variety of reasons including impaired intestinal function from inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease.

These children are closely monitored to maximize their growth and nutrition. We work closely with our Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program to ensure that children are meeting milestones in oral motor development and encourage feeding orally when medically possible.

Our surgeons have extensive expertise in intestinal lengthening procedures including Serial Transverse Enteroplasty (STEP). STEP increases the absorptive surface area of the small intestines and may decrease intestinal motility to enhance nutrient absorption.

Conditions associated with short bowel syndrome including:

• Enteral nutrition including nasogastric, gastrostomy and jejunal feeds
• Feeding intolerance
• Feeding problems
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Parenteral nutrition (intravenous administering of nutrition)
• Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth