1/2. Effective treatment of rumination with Nissen fundoplication.Rumination is a syndrome characterized by the effortless regurgitation of recently ingested food. It has been linked to severe medical and psychosocial conditions including malnutrition, aspiration pneumonia, and complete social withdrawal. psychotherapy, the current treatment modality for rumination, may improve symptoms but requires significant motivation and is rarely curative. We hypothesized that a complete fundoplication would eliminate, or at least impair, the ability to regurgitate gastric contents through the esophagogastric junction. We performed a Nissen fundoplication in five patients with a classic history of rumination. In all cases, symptoms had been resistant to medical and psychiatric intervention prior to fundoplication. Formal preoperative testing included esophageal manometry, 24-hour pH monitoring, endoscopy, and upper gastrointestinal barium swallow studies. All patients reported their primary symptom to be effortless recurrent postprandial regurgitation for 1 to 2 hours after meals consistent with rumination. Four (80%) of the five patients had low resting lower esophageal sphincter pressures with evidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease on 24-hour pH monitoring. All patients reported complete cessation of ruminating behavior after Nissen fundoplication. We report, for the first time, complete elimination of rumination symptoms after a Nissen fundoplication. Although further trials are needed to confirm our results, we recommend considering a Nissen fundoplication for treatment of rumination refractory to behavioral and medical interventions.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = malnutrition (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/2. Chronic pancreatitis and maldigestion.patients with chronic pancreatitis may suffer from maldigestion and malnutrition. Longstanding inflammation and fibrosis in the gland can destroy exocrine tissue, leading to inadequate delivery of digestive enzymes to the duodenum in the prandial and postprandial period and subsequent maldigestion. Maldigestion is augmented by inadequate bicarbonate delivery to the duodenum, with secondary inactivation of enzymes and bile acids by gastric acid. abdominal pain, sitophobia, nausea, vomiting, postprandial satiety, and on-going alcohol abuse may contribute to poor oral intake. Gastric dysmotility and mechanical gastric outlet obstruction from fibrosis in the pancreatic head may contribute to malnutrition and clinical decline. patients with chronic pancreatitis may at times experience profound steatorrhea and weight loss. In this article, we examine the natural history of exocrine insufficiency in chronic pancreatitis, outline the important nutritional issues in these patients, review the methods of diagnosis of maldigestion, and discuss the approach to therapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = malnutrition (Clic here for more details about this article) |