 |
about | Maps & Directions | contact | admissions | faculty | alumni & development | library | Tech Support Center | dean's office | Policies & Procedures |
 Site Map
|
|
about | Maps & Directions | contact | admissions | faculty | alumni & development | library | Tech Support Center | dean's office | Policies & Procedures |
 |
 |
 |
department of medicineSection of GastroenterologyReferring Physician Information
Digestive diseases affect one out of every three Americans. Because these diseases also claim 200,000 lives each year, accurate diagnosis and treatment are essential.
Temple University Hospital is a leader in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Our continued research and large clinical practice allow us to apply the very latest techniques to treat even the most challenging patients.
Discovering that some of these problems respond well to alternative and multidisciplinary approaches, Temple instituted the nation’s first Functional Gastrointestinal Disease Center. Here, patients can be evaluated and treated by a team including gastroenterologists, psychiatrists/psychologists and nutritionist.
Not only are Temple’s state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques available, but patients can also be treated with alternative modalities such as stress management, relaxation exercises, diet therapy, hypnotherapy and acupuncture.
For the difficult-to-treat patient, the Functional Gastrointestinal Disease Center may be the best hope for palliation of troublesome symptoms that have made life intolerable.
Your patients will have access to virtually every available endoscopic, manometric and endosonographic technique--plus some investigational diagnostic and therapeutic procedures not available elsewhere.
We can bring together a wide variety of disciplines to help you deal with every aspect of gastroenterology. For example:
At Temple, your patients will benefit from our fully equipped gastroenterology unit and physiology laboratory. And, they’ll appreciate our modern campus, easily reached from both the city and suburbs.
The close relationship with Temple’s Departments of Radiology and Surgery also enables us to utilize specialized techniques for diagnosing and treating even the most complex disorders--all in one convenient location.
For years, some patients' unexplained heartburn, nausea, vomiting, dysphagia, constipation or abdominal pain have been difficult to accurately diagnose and treat.
But in the last decade, Temple physicians have played a vital part in measuring gastrointestinal myoelectric and contractile activity as well as transit.
In addition to routine testing, such as esophageal manometry with provocative testing and anal manometry with biofeedback, we also perform other leading-edge techniques. We’re one of the few centers, for example, offering antroduodenal motility, impedance tomography, and electrogastrography. And at Temple, you’ll also find:
Access to a GI physiology laboratory vastly improves the ability to screen and test patients, especially those with symptoms that are difficult to diagnose and treat. At Temple’s state-of-the-art laboratory, we perform:
Temple has expanded the role of endoscopy by pioneering innovative uses, some of which may enhance diagnosis for your patients.
Endoscopic ultrasonographic is the newest frontier in endoscopy.
By combining conventional ultrasonography with endoscopy, ultrasound is more targeted at close range--providing dramatically precise pictures of many intestinal irregularities.
Temple is also the only regional medical center using conventional endoscopic ultrasonography, high- and ultra-high-frequency probe endosonography, and curvilinear/doppler/sector endosonography.
These techniques can play an important role in diagnosing and staging malignancies. They also may play a role in evaluating some non-malignant conditions, such as scleroderma, cirrhosis and achalasia.
Temple is recognized for expertise in drug hepatotoxicity, as well as viral hepatitis of all types, hepatic consequences of alcoholism, metabolic diseases of the liver, and interpretation of liver biopsies.
Temple is also a major referral center for all forms of hepatitis and cirrhosis. And we’re a regional center for the treatment of hepatitis B or C with interferon. Should your patient be a candidate for liver transplantation, Temple’s experts can conduct a detailed patient evaluation, perform the transplantation surgery and then follow-up post-operatively.
In addition, our newest therapeutic approaches to liver disease, designed to prevent the need for transplantation, include:
When it comes to the treatment and palliation of malignancies, Temple offers a mix of expertise resulting in an outstanding approach to patient care.
In addition to standard diagnostic techniques, we offer pancreaticobiliary endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography. Our advanced endoscopic equipment allows us to visualize the entire GI tract. Coupled with special dyes, we have significantly improved detection of premalignancy lesions. And, our active screening programs include colonic polyps, ulcerative colitis, colon cancer and surveillance of Barrett’s Esophagus and achalasia.
Temple participates in various collaborative studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.
In collaboration with the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, we’re utilizing newly discovered molecular markers of malignant transformation to diagnose premalignant lesions such as colonic polyps and Barrett’s Esophagus.
We frequently participate in treatment protocols with Temple’s Cancer Center, and work closely with the Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit and Radiation Oncology Department.
Temple is a National Cancer Institute-sponsored center for treatment of esophageal cancer.
Endoscopic spectral analysis is being employed to differentiate normal from transformed tissue. And, we’re continually testing new approaches to colon carcinogenesis and correlating markers with dietary and pharmacologic intervention.
At Temple, we will often diagnose unusual presentations of inflammatory bowel disease which masquerade as peptic disease in young adults or intestinal ischemic in the elderly. Temple gastroenterologists are highly experienced in the use of 6-mercaptopurine and other immunosuppressive therapies. Our physicians are comfortable with the difficult, unresponsive cases which may require elemental diets, home hyperalimentation or other unique dietary therapies.
In patients requiring surgery, we work hand-in-hand with our skilled Department of Surgery to perform state-of-the-art bowel-preserving stricturoplasty and sphincter-preserving colectomy (ileoanal anastomosis).
As a university medical center, we teach not only our own medical students, residents and fellows, but practicing family physicians and gastroenterologists as well.
Temple has trained many gastroenterologists in the use of endoscopy and laser palliation of malignancies, as well as the use of enteroscopy and the use of endoscopic ultrasound to evaluate gastrointestinal disorders. In fact, the first regional courses on these techniques were offered by Temple.
In November of 2005 we moved into a brand new, state-of-the-art endoscopy facility. This facility features all-digital imaging, brand new endoscopic technology including ultrathin endoscopes that do not require sedation, enhanced digital fluoroscopy, and more. This patient friendly environment permits easy access from valet parking, brand new private changing rooms and recovery, and confidential electronic tracking so family members know what is happening.
You’re invited to call any of Temple’s gastroenterology specialists with questions about your patients. We’ve included under our "Faculty" link to the right a list of our staff physicians and their phone numbers for your convenience.
If you’re interested in participating in our future courses on laser therapy, small intestine endoscopy, endosonography, gastrointestinal motility or hepatology, we’ll be pleased to provide you with full information. Simply call us at 215-707-3435.
To refer a patient to Temple Gastroenterology, call us at:215-707-9900
|
Contact Information:Gastroenterology Section Temple University Hospital 3401 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19140 T: 215-707-9900 F: 215-707-2684
|
