Although many patients encountered in clinical practice complain about intestinal gas, systematic investigation of this subject did not begin until the 1960s, when studies by Michael Levitt, MD, and colleagues began to shed light on the pathophysiology of intestinal gas.…
Diarrhea is a universal human experience. In an average month, 7.5% of Americans have symptoms of acute gastroenteritis. For most persons, episodes of diarrhea last a day or 2 and rapidly subside without medical intervention. For others, diarrhea lasts for…
Acknowledgment The authors acknowledge the contributions of Drs. Juan-R. Malagelada and Carolina Malagelada to this chapter in previous editions of the book. Nausea is an unpleasant subjective sensation of impending vomiting and can be associated with salivation, anorexia, perspiration, disinterest…
Definition Dyspepsia is derived from the Greek words “δυς-” (dys-) and “πέψη” (pepse) and literally means “difficult digestion.” In current medical terminology, dyspepsia refers to a heterogeneous group of symptoms in the upper abdomen. In the literature, dyspepsia is often…
Common symptoms that affect the esophagus include dysphagia, odynophagia, globus sensation, hiccups, chest pain, heartburn, regurgitation, and a number of “supraesophageal” complaints that have been attributed to gastroesophageal reflux. A carefully taken history can clarify many of these symptoms and…
Evaluating any patient with a complaint of abdominal pain is challenging. Abdominal pain can be benign and self-limited or a harbinger of a serious life-threatening disease (see Chapter 11 ). Chronic abdominal pain poses a particularly challenging clinical problem. Not…
Acute abdominal pain is a frequent complaint that causes patients to visit an emergency department. In 2014, 11.1 million emergency department visits in the USA were due to abdominal pain, accounting for 8% of all emergency department visits that year.…
The first recorded account of food allergy is attributed to Hippocrates, but it was not until 1921 that Prausnitz’s classic experiment initiated scientific investigation of food allergy and established the immunologic basis of allergic reactions. In his experiment, Prausnitz injected…
Acknowledgment The authors would like to thank Anne E. Becker and Sarah A. Kearney for their enormous contribution to this chapter in the 10th edition. Eating disorders (EDs) are mental disorders characterized by disturbances in body image, weight control, and/or…
Severe obesity is the leading public health crisis of the industrialized world (see Chapter 7 ). The prevalence of obesity in the USA continues to rise at an alarming rate, with two thirds of adults currently considered overweight, half of…