Diabetic Gastroparesis: Perspectives From a Patient and Health Care Providers.

Gastroparesis is defined as a delay in gastric emptying in the absence of mechanical obstruction in the stomach. Gastroparesis has a number of causes, including postsurgical, secondary to medications, postinfectious, idiopathic, and as a complication of diabetes mellitus, where it is underrecognized. The cardinal symptoms of diabetic gastroparesis are nausea, early satiety, bloating, and vomiting.

Pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of opioid-induced constipation.

Opioids are potent analgesics used for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Side-effects are common and among the most bothersome are those associated with opioid-induced bowel dysfunction, which includes opioid-induced constipation. In this Review, we provide a summary of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of opioid-induced constipation, which can be defined as a change in baseline bowel habit or defecatory patterns following initiation, alteration, or increase of opioid therapy.

Narcotic bowel syndrome.

Narcotic bowel syndrome is characterised by worsening abdominal pain in the context of escalating or continuous opioid therapy. Although narcotic bowel syndrome is rarely diagnosed, given the current epidemic of opioid use, it is likely to be under-recognised. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of narcotic bowel syndrome are incompletely understood; however, opioid-induced hyperalgesia is likely to be a central facet.

Liver biopsy in a district general hospital: changes over two decades.

Aim: To study liver biopsy practice over two decades in a district general hospital in the United Kingdom.

Methods: We identified all patients who had at least one liver biopsy between 1986 and 2006 from the databases of the radiology and gastroenterology departments. Subjects with incomplete clinical data were excluded from the study.