Gastrointestinal Conditions News

Child patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomies experienced better morbidity rates when their procedure was performed by a general adult surgeon, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery.

MELD score higher than 20 and age younger than 6 months correlated significantly with 2-year mortality among pediatric patients with biliary atresia on the liver transplantation waitlist, according to recently published data.

Portal vein venoplasty with autogenous patch was a simple and safe procedure that produced satisfactory outcomes in pediatric patients with poor portal vein characteristics who underwent living donor liver transplantation, according to a recently published study.

Children who received a combination of interferential electrical stimulation and pelvic floor muscle exercises as treatment for functional constipation saw significant improvement of their symptoms, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

A recent DNA analysis of 450-year-old mummified remains belonging to a small child in Naples, Italy, revealed that the child — who was thought to have the oldest evidence of smallpox in Medieval remains — actually had hepatitis B virus infection.

Most patients or parents of children with acute uncomplicated appendicitis would choose surgery over antibiotic therapy as their preferred treatment, but “a meaningful number” would choose antibiotics alone, according to survey results published in JAMA Surgery.

WHO recently announced that it has prequalified the first typhoid conjugate vaccine, making it accessible to global health agencies for areas where it is most needed.

Infant formula products manufactured by a French company have caused 35 confirmed cases of Salmonella Agona infection in infants aged younger than 6 months, according to WHO.

The economic burden of Clostridium difficile infection in children is similar to that of infection among adults, study data show.

The treatment of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease has been revolutionized by the advent of biologic therapies, which have been shown to effectively treat symptoms, induce mucosal healing, and reverse growth impairment in many patients. However, experts continue to debate the positioning of biologics in IBD, and are seeking ways to better understand how to deliver optimal treatment to children affected by the disease.