What Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a motility disorder without anatomic cause involving the entire gastrointestinal tract that is characterized by these four features: 1) Abdominal pain usually relieved by defecation or passing of gas; 2) ...
Read More »Jejunitis, Chronic Ulcerative
What Is Chronic Ulcerative Jejunitis? Chronic ulcerative jejunitis is a disease of the small intestine that is characterized by inflammation and ulceration of the mucosal lining of the jejunum. Q: How do inflammation and ulceration affect digestion in the jejunum? A: ...
Read More »Lactose Intolerance
What Is Lactose Intolerance? Lactose intolerance is a well known symptom of carbohydrate malabsorption characterized by inability to properly digest lactose, the sugar in milk, due to low lactase digesting activity in the small intestine. Lactase is an enzyme produced ...
Read More »Lymphoma, Enteropathy-Associated T-Cell (EATL)
What Is Enteropathy-Associated T-Cell Lymphoma? Enteropathy associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL), although rare, is a tumor of intraepithelial lymphocytes. It is the most common primary gastrointestinal T-cell lymphoma and is characterized by its aggressive course and poor prognosis. Primary means this ...
Read More »Maltose Intolerance
What Is Maltose Intolerance? Maltose intolerance is an enzymopathy (enzyme failure) characterized by inability of the gut to properly break down maltose sugar molecules in food due to low maltase enzyme activity of the small intestinal lining. Q: What is ...
Read More »Milk Intolerance – Bovine Beta Casein Enteropathy
What Is Milk Intolerance (Bovine Beta Casein Enteropathy)? Bovine beta casein enteropathy is characterized by raised serum IgA antibodies to bovine beta casein found by blood testing and damage to mucosa of the jejunum found by biopsy. The jejunum is the second ...
Read More »Penicillin V Impaired Absorption in Children
What Is Penicillin V Impaired Absorption In Children? Penicillin V impaired absorption in children is characterized by lack of ability to absorb the oral antibiotic medicine, penicillin V, from the small intestine. Q: What is penicillin V? A: Penicillin V ...
Read More »Small Bowel Intussusception
What Is Small Bowel Intussusception? Small bowel intussusception is a bowel derangement that is characterized by the slipping of one section of intestine into another, leading to bowel obstruction. Acute bowel intussusception is a rare manifestation in adults, which mainly involves ...
Read More »Sucrose Intolerance and Sucrosemia
What Is Sucrose Intolerance And Sucrosemia? Sucrose intolerance is the inability to digest sucrose, a widely available sugar, while sucrosemia is the abnormal presence of sucrose in the bloodstream. Q: Why cannot the body digest sucrose? A: Sucrose, such as cane ...
Read More »Ulceration And Stenosis, Postbulbar Duodenal
What Is Postbulbar Duodenal Ulceration/Stenosis? Postbulbar duodenal ulceration is a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by thickening of the intestinal lining with excoriation penetrating the muscularis mucosae (muscle layer of the intestine) associated with villous atrophy. The ulcer is well-defined. Stenosis ...
Read More »Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Deficiency
What Is Vitamin B3 (Niacin)? Niacin is an essential water-soluble B vitamin that is required by all cells of the body. During digestion of food containing it, niacin (the form in food) is changed in the small intestines to the active form niacinamide (niacin ...
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