We introduce ourselves as the pioneers in the management of digestive & liver diseases. The specialty Gastroenterology deals with the treatment of digestive and liver diseases. A lot of advancement had taken place in this field during the fast few decades. Once considered as purely surgeon’s field, had transformed into primarily a non-surgical specialty after the advent of the revolutionary endoscopy and anti-ulcer drugs. There are a variety of non-surgical methods available at present to diagnose and treat majority of digestive and liver diseases.

Approach to Digestive & Liver Disease:

Based on some symptoms (complaints), the patient decides to consult a Gastroenterologist. What are those symptoms? Abdominal (stomach) pain, Indigestion, fullness, bloating sensation, gas, etc., are the common complaints suggestive of disease of the stomach or intestines. Some times gall stones or disease of the panareas can give rise to abdominal pain, etc., There are other symptoms associated with abdominal pain, such as, vomiting, fever, jaundice, constipation, etc., A patient with disease of the food pipe (oesophagus) complains of difficulty in swallowing (dysphagia), food not going down or returning back into month, food sticking in the throat or chest, burning sensation in throat or chest, sometimes feeling of chocking, or excessive belching. Some asthmatic patients when they also have symptoms of food pipe disease do not respond to anti-asthmatic medication alone.

Mentioned above so far are the symptoms related to upper gastro-intestinal tract. Now let us know about the symptoms of the lown gastro-intestinal tract (lower G.I.T.)

The common lower G.I.T.symptoms are: Lower Abdominal Pain, discomfort, bloating sensation or gas, usually associated with constipation or sometimes loose motions.

One frightening symptom of gastro-intestinal disease is bleeding. Bleeding may take place in any part of G.I.T. starting from throat to anus. The blood lost may be either vomited or passed in stool. The blood may be either red, maroon or black in color. The patient may even lose consciousness or die if the blood loss is severe. There is one variety of G.I. bleeding called occult bleeding. In this type of bleeding, the blood loss is so slow that it cannot be detected by the patient. These patients usually have features of anemia due to blood loss only. Cancer is the most common cause of this type of bleeding.
The common symptoms of liver diseases are: jaundice and accumulation of water in the abdomen (Ascites).

Diagnosis of G. I. or Liver Diseases:

The most commonly done investigation (test) is endoscopy. Endoscoopy is required in almost all cases. The advantages of endoscopy are: simple, quick and accurate. We can arrive at a conclusion in all the cases undergoing endoscopy.

Basically, there are 3 types of endoscopy.

1) Upper G. I. Endoscopy (U. G. I. E.) or Gastroscopy or simply called endoscopy.
2) Colonoscopy for examination of large intestine.
3) E. R. C. P. to study and treat biliary tract and pancreatic diseases.

U. G. I. E. is the most common and most useful endoscopy. By this method we can diagnose and treat disease of the food pipe, stomach and duodenum, such as ulcer, cancer, obstruction, bleeding, etc.

By colonoscopy, we can diagnose and treat polyps, cancer, ulcers, and bleeding from large intestine.

E. R. C. P. is useful to diagnose and treat obstructive jaundice and pancreatic disease.