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Gastroenterology Services include clinical Endoscopic diagnosis and treatment, and research activities.
Clinical Activity
The Gastroenterology Service is an integral part of the Departments of Medicine, General Surgery and Pediatrics. It is responsible for the management of patients with inborn and acquired digestive diseases, including pancreatic, biliary and liver disorders in cooperation with units of liver diseases. The most common pathologies treated are peptic and non-peptic dyspepsia, inflammatory bowel diseases, neoplastic diseases of the digestive tract, motility and functional disorders, pathological conditions of the small bowel, mal-absorption and indigestive syndromes.
Diagnosis measures and the treatment are executed in both in-patients and out-patients. These include sophisticated Endoscopies, comprising upper and lower Endoscopies, proctology treatments, Endoscopic laser therapy, ERCP, etc. The management and follow-up of out-patients are carried out in Out-Patient Clinics.
Research Activity
Gastro Units are also responsible for service laboratories, including the clinical motility laboratories and the different breath test examinations.
The main research gastro projects focus on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Diabetic disorders of the GI tract, new treatments of proctologic disorders, and functional bowel diseases, including:
 Irritable bowel syndrome
Gastro esophageal reflux,
Dyspepsia and non-cardiac chest pain
Treatments of these disorders by hypnosis
Pediatric Gastrointestinal Patients
All the examinations, tests and treatments of infants and children are done by teams of pediatric gastro-specialists. Over the past several years extensive experience has been gained in the realm of liver operations and transplants in children from 7 months up to 14 years. These complex operations are performed by pediatric surgeons in collaboration with Pediatric Anesthesia Units, after a thorough gastrointestinal elaboration. The success rate is on a par with major centers in the world including Belgium. 85% of children survived the first year after transplant; several were transplants of a liver lobe from one of the parents (living-related transplantation).
The surgical teams are also responsible for the performance of complex hepato-biliary procedures including Kasai’s procedure, resection of choledochal cysts, and liver resections for tumors and Porto-systemic bypass. The Pediatric Gastroenterology Institutes conduct examinations of patients before and after the transplant. The preparation of children for transplant and the follow-up after transplantation include:
Donor matching
Assistance of a Social Worker
An Intensive Care Units is ready to receive and treat all urgent cases
Close contact with Transplantation Centers in the United States and Europe in the event that there is a need for a repeat transplant |
