What are the signs, symptoms, diagnostics, and treatments for gastrointestinal disorders, including esophageal, gastric, small intestine, large intestine, liver, and pancreatic diseases?

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Last updated: November 11, 2025View editorial policy

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I appreciate your request, but I must clarify an important limitation: The evidence provided does not contain content from Harrison's Internal Medicine textbook, and therefore I cannot provide a chapter-by-chapter summary of that specific resource.

The studies and guidelines you've provided focus on specific gastrointestinal conditions (IBS, diabetic neuropathy, cancer-related GI complications, eosinophilic disorders, and GERD) rather than comprehensive textbook chapters.

However, I can offer you a structured review of gastrointestinal disorders based on the available evidence, organized by organ system with emphasis on signs/symptoms, diagnostics, and treatment—which may serve your RITE review purposes:


Esophageal Disorders

Eosinophilic Esophagitis

  • Symptoms: Dysphagia and food impaction in adults; heartburn, abdominal pain, and vomiting in children 1, 2
  • Diagnosis: Endoscopy revealing esophageal rings, texture changes, or nonspecific mucosal appearances; biopsy showing eosinophilic infiltration 1
  • Treatment: Proton pump inhibitor therapy or swallowed topical corticosteroids; esophageal dilation as needed 1

Infectious Esophagitis

  • Candida Esophagitis: White nummular lesions on endoscopy; diagnosed via cytobrush or biopsy showing fungal forms; more common in immunosuppressed patients but can occur in immunocompetent hosts 1
  • HSV/CMV: Multiple ulcers with diarrhea or bleeding; diagnose via immunocytochemistry and PCR of biopsy samples from ulcerated areas (blood PCR for CMV is insensitive) 1

GERD and Erosive Esophagitis

  • Treatment: PPIs remain the medical treatment of choice 3, 4
  • Omeprazole indications: Short-term treatment (4-8 weeks) of erosive esophagitis in patients ≥2 years; maintenance healing in patients ≥2 years 3

Gastric and Duodenal Disorders

Peptic Ulcer Disease

  • H. pylori Eradication: Triple therapy (omeprazole + clarithromycin + amoxicillin) is indicated for active duodenal ulcer or 1-year history to eradicate H. pylori 3
  • Treatment Duration: Most duodenal ulcers heal within 4 weeks; some require additional 4 weeks 3
  • Gastric Ulcer: Short-term treatment (4-8 weeks) with omeprazole 3

Gastroparesis

  • Suspect in: Erratic glucose control or upper GI symptoms without identified cause 1
  • Exclude first: Medications, gastric outlet obstruction, peptic ulcer disease via esophagogastroduodenoscopy or barium study 1
  • Diagnostic gold standard: Gastric emptying scintigraphy with digestible solids at 15-minute intervals for 4 hours; 13C octanoic acid breath test is approved alternative 1

Small Intestine Disorders

Dumping Syndrome (Post-Surgical)

  • Early dumping: Cramp-like contractions, bloating, diarrhea within 1 hour of eating 1
  • Late dumping: Hypoglycemia 1-3 hours postprandially 1
  • Diagnosis: OGTT showing hypoglycemia with symptoms; gastric emptying scintigraphy (though low sensitivity/specificity) 1
  • Treatment: Dietary modifications first-line; somatostatin analogues for both early and late dumping; acarbose specifically for late dumping 1

Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

  • Consider in: "Wet wind" with faecal incontinence; assess dietary fiber intake 1
  • Role in constipation: May contribute, especially with methane-producing organisms 1

Large Intestine Disorders

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Diagnosis

  • Rome IV criteria-based: Recurrent abdominal pain, bloating, altered bowel habits without structural pathology 1, 5
  • Exclude organic disease: Colonoscopy if alarm features (rectal bleeding, iron deficiency anemia, age >50, family history) 1

Treatment Algorithm

For Predominantly GI Symptoms 1:

  1. First-line medical therapy:

    • Diarrhea-predominant: Loperamide or codeine 1
    • Constipation-predominant: Increase dietary fiber (ispaghula better tolerated than wheat bran); laxatives as needed 1
    • Abdominal pain: Antispasmodics with anticholinergic effect most effective 1
  2. Second-line: Low-dose tricyclic antidepressants for abdominal pain and global symptoms 1

For IBS with Mental Health Comorbidity 1:

  • SSRIs at therapeutic doses are better initial choice than low-dose TCAs when depression/anxiety suspected, as low-dose TCAs inadequate for mood disorders 1
  • SNRIs: Beneficial in chronic painful disorders and useful for GI symptoms with psychological comorbidity 1

Dietary Management 1:

  • Mild symptoms: Standard dietary advice
  • Moderate-severe GI symptoms: Low FODMAP diet 1
  • Substantial psychological symptoms: Mediterranean diet; can be modified for FODMAP content if needed 1

Psychological Treatment 1:

  • Low severity: Self-management via education and lifestyle
  • Moderate-severe: Brain-gut behavior therapy (CBT, hypnotherapy) 1
  • Significant psychiatric disease: Traditional psychological treatment; psychiatric referral if warranted 1

Functional Constipation

  • Post-cancer treatment: Rule out opioid-induced constipation; consider PAMORAs (peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonists) or conventional laxatives first-line 1
  • Faecal impaction: Managed with suppositories or enemas initially 1

Faecal Incontinence

  • Investigations: Assess anal tone; flexible sigmoidoscopy to rule out structural pathology 1
  • "Wet wind": Assess dietary fiber intake (too little or too much); exclude SIBO 1
  • Treatment: Transanal irrigation effective when other treatments fail, especially with passive incontinence, severe constipation, anterior resection syndrome 1

Gastrointestinal Neuropathies (Diabetic)

Screening and Diagnosis

  • Annual screening: All type 2 diabetes patients and type 1 diabetes ≥5 years duration using 10-g monofilament 1
  • Clinical tests: Pinprick (small fiber), vibration with 128-Hz tuning fork (large fiber), 10-g monofilament (protective sensation), ankle reflexes 1

Specific Manifestations

  • Gastroparesis: Suspect with erratic glucose control or upper GI symptoms; solid-phase gastric emptying via double-isotope scintigraphy (though test results correlate poorly with symptoms) 1
  • Lower GI: Constipation most common; can alternate with diarrhea episodes 1
  • Esophageal: Dysmotility, enteropathy 1

Treatment

  • Prevention: Tight glycemic control only strategy convincingly shown to prevent/delay DPN and cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy in type 1 diabetes; slows progression in type 2 diabetes 1
  • Pain management: Gabapentinoids, SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants, sodium channel blockers as initial pharmacologic treatments 1
  • Referral: To neurologist or pain specialist when pain control not achieved 1

Post-Cancer Treatment GI Complications

Diarrhea and Urgency

  • Bacterial infection: Loperamide safe before microbiology results available; theoretical risk of toxic dilatation with high-dose loperamide in neutropenic patients with C. difficile 1
  • C. difficile in neutropenic patients: Pseudomembrane formation requires neutrophils (may not be seen); endoscopic biopsy can diagnose 1

Obstruction

  • Subacute obstruction: Low-fiber diets prescribed by dietitian, time-limited with clinical benefit review; additional laxatives may be required 1
  • Complete obstruction: Surgical emergency; requires CT imaging to understand anatomy and exclude cancer recurrence 1
  • Recurrent cancer obstruction: Self-expanding metal stents preferred over surgery when possible; expert medical management with opioids, antispasmodics (hyoscine butyl bromide), antiemetics, antisecretory agents (octreotide), corticosteroids 1

Key Clinical Pitfalls

  1. IBS diagnosis: Symptoms unreliable at identifying underlying cause; one-third of symptoms attributed to cancer therapy are unrelated after investigation 1

  2. Gastroparesis testing: Gastric emptying studies have low sensitivity/specificity because rapid emptying occurs early (not adequately assessed); 4-hour study integrated into single value may neutralize rapid initial emptying effect 1

  3. Post-surgical dumping vs. other complications: Internal herniation causes colicky pain without vegetative symptoms; stenosis causes dysphagia; marginal ulcer causes pain during meals with acid reflux—all can mimic dumping 1, 6

  4. Diabetic neuropathy: Electrophysiological testing rarely needed except when features atypical; consider alternative causes (neurotoxic medications, heavy metals, alcohol, B12 deficiency, renal disease, vasculitis) in severe/atypical cases 1

  5. Eosinophilic disorders: When hypereosinophilia present (AEC >1500), consider non-EoE eosinophilic GI disease, hypereosinophilic syndrome, EGPA; consult allergy/immunology 1

References

Guideline

Guideline Directed Topic Overview

Dr.Oracle Medical Advisory Board & Editors, 2025

Research

Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology, 2019

Research

Irritable bowel syndrome: diagnosis and management.

Minerva gastroenterologica e dietologica, 2020

Guideline

Post-Cholecystectomy Complications and Management

Praxis Medical Insights: Practical Summaries of Clinical Guidelines, 2025

Professional Medical Disclaimer

This information is intended for healthcare professionals. Any medical decision-making should rely on clinical judgment and independently verified information. The content provided herein does not replace professional discretion and should be considered supplementary to established clinical guidelines. Healthcare providers should verify all information against primary literature and current practice standards before application in patient care. Dr.Oracle assumes no liability for clinical decisions based on this content.

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