Gastroenterology

Surgeons transplanted a kidney from a donor who had hepatitis C to a recipient who also has the disease in what is believed to be the first of its kind in the state of Utah.

Although ribotype 027 remains a significant cause of C. difficile infection, other strain types are gaining in prevalence, according to a study published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Insulin, a peptide hormone, can protect the cells of the pancreas from acute pancreatitis – a disease for which there is currently no cure, according to a study by scientists from The University of Manchester.

Widely known to prevent signs of aging, injections of Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) could also be used to sever nerves to halt tumor growth in gastrointestinal cancer

Researchers have made several impressive advances in gastrointestinal medicine in recent years, including the use of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Following the success of that approach, researchers have been evaluating FMT for the treatment of other conditions, with one team recently conducting the first randomized controlled trial of FMT to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

With the recent approval of new hepatitis C treatments, payers are increasingly concerned with controlling costs in this category through policies that may affect treatment decisions.

The United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is recommending Sovaldi as a cost-effective option to treat some people who have chronic hepatitis C.

Between developing its own pipeline of therapies for patients with hepatitis C and acquiring another company known for its work in this field, it looks like Merck is taking steps to be a larger player in HCV market.

An emerging epidemic of acute hepatitis C threatens the country's younger population, which experienced a significant hike in the number of cases during a recent 6-year period, according to a compound study that looked at trends of the disease among youth.

A staggering portion of the homeless who are alcohol dependent began drinking as children and cited their drinking as the main cause of their homelessness.

In just a few short years the number of doctors and hospitals using electronic health records has grown dramatically, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Immune cells responsible for intestinal movement may be the key to an effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.

Hepatitis C genotype 1 is the most common of half a dozen genotypes of the virus and accounts for nearly half of all cases, according to results from global analysis conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom.

Abuse-deterrent properties, identical efficacy for pain relief, reversal of opioid-induced constipation, and theoretical tolerance mitigation may give Targiniq ER an interesting advantage over other oral opioids.

During the first open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act, more than 10 million Americans gained health insurance coverage.

Despite the debilitating symptoms associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, an alarming proportion of primary care providers mistreat or overlook the disease in their patients

Crops raised in a method that meets the organic standard contain more antioxidants than traditionally grown crops. Nevertheless, it remains unproven whether diets with higher antioxidant concentrations provide improved health outcomes.

One of the most common treatment courses for chronic pain is comprised of prescription opioid medications. However, concerns about drug addiction and abuse oftentimes outweigh the drugs' pain-relieving benefits.

A combination oral treatment of sofosbuvir and ribavirin resulted in high cure rates of hepatitis C among a patient population that also was infected with HIV.

This 28-year-old woman presented with a large hyperpigmented patch on the right side of her upper back. Although the lesion developed over the past 2 years, it has been "sinking in" over the past 2 weeks. The patient denies any trauma, pain, discomfort, or pruritis, as well as any family history of cancers, lymphoma, or autoimmune disease. However, she has a history of gastroesophageal reflux disease and onychomycosis, and her grandfather has a similar lesion.

Though hospital stay duration was once used as a surrogate outcome for surgical recovery, the increasing popularity of short-stay surgery has eliminated that measure, making it harder for hospitals to track recovery trajectories and more difficult for surgeons to plan physical, psychological, and social postoperative courses for prospective patients.

Agent Orange exposure several decades earlier may increase morbidity from various diseases, some of which have rarely been explored in previous epidemiologic studies.

Although tumor necrosis factor inhibitors have dramatically improved management strategies for autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, the biologic agents also pose a number of significant side effects that physicians must consider.

A team of researchers has discovered a new course of treatment that could be a major step in curing those co-infected with hepatitis C virus and HIV.

Those who have lost a significant amount of weight are often left with sagging skin, and exercise is not the solution to that problem.

For many procedures, minimally invasive surgery is superior to open surgery because it typically involves a few small incisions, rather than one large open cut.

Although small-bowel capsule endoscopy is often used to evaluate unexplained abdominal pain, a new analysis has found the procedure's diagnostic yield is limited.

The US Senate Finance Committee recently requested detailed pricing information on Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), its breakthrough oral treatment for hepatitis C.

When gallstones are the source of acute pancreatitis, the condition can be life threatening.

In a recent survey, physicians identified peer-reviewed journal articles, continuing medical education, evidence-based guidelines, and national experts as the most useful sources of information to stay current on therapeutic advances.