American College of Gastroenterology Conference

At this year's Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, advances in the treatment of a range of GI disorders—ranging from esophageal disorders to ulcerative colitis—was the focus. ConsultantLive has captured the highlights of the meeting from a primary care perspective and offers “take home” summaries from key presentations.

ACG2013

Dietary Assessments Valuable for Crohn Disease Patients

Mark L. Fuerst

Oct 22, 2013

Diet diaries and food frequency questionnaires are both effective tools to capture important patterns between food items and symptoms of IBD.

Diverticulitis Increases as Diverticular Bleeding Decreases

Mark L. Fuerst

Oct 17, 2013

Epidemiologic trends for diverticulitis and diverticular bleeding show the prevalence of the former is increasing over time while that of the latter is on the decline.

Crohn Disease Linked With Vitamin D Deficiency: Please Test and Replete

Mark L. Fuerst

Oct 17, 2013

A 30% to 40% prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Crohn disease patients highlights the importance of testing these patients for vitamin D levels.

Breakthrough at ACG 2013: Oral-Only Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis C

Jeffrey Hertzberg, MD, MS

Oct 17, 2013

Data from pivotal international phase III clinical trials showed superior efficacy, safety, and convenience for a new wave of direct-acting oral agents. The breakthrough will benefit physicians in all practice settings, including primary care.

Differentiating Celiac Disease From Gluten Intolerance and IBS

Jeffrey Hertzberg, MD, MS

Oct 16, 2013

A presentation on October 14, 2013, at the American College of Gastroenterology Scientific Session by Joseph A. Murray, MD, FACG (Mayo Clinic)Murray JA. Implications of gluten intolerance and celiac disease in IBS.

Refractory Constipation: A Case Study in Evaluation and Management

Jeffrey Hertzberg, MD, MS

Oct 16, 2013

Constipation is often treated as a simple functional disorder that responds well to improvements in diet, hydration, and exercise. That's not what happened to this young patient . . .

Hospitalization for Constipation: A Most Preventable Admission

Jeffrey Hertzberg, MD, MS

Oct 16, 2013

What accounts for the 129% increase in admissions for constipation over the past decade—and what can be done to avoid these expensive and often unnecessary admissions? Primary care clinicians take note.

Clinical Pearls on Infectious Diarrhea

Jeffrey Hertzberg, MD, MS

Oct 15, 2013

This presentation at the ACG Scientific Meeting provided the requisite research-oriented material but an equal amount of practical information that will be useful for the general internist, family physician, DO, and primary care physician.