Programs & Services

Our multidisciplinary clinics bring together experts from gastroenterology and other medical specialty areas. Each provider is highly trained in their specific field of medicine. This coordinated care ensures your child gets the complete services they need, no matter their condition.

• Abdominal Pain Clinic: This care team takes a holistic approach and considers your whole child, not just a list of symptoms or diagnoses. During clinic visits, your child will see a wide variety of specialists. They may include a GI and motility specialist, integrative medicine doctor, nutritionist, psychologist, pain specialist and others.
• Aerodigestive Clinic: This clinic is the only one in southwest Arizona to provide coordinated care for children with complex swallowing, breathing and feeding conditions. Our team includes experts in otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat diseases), gastroenterology and pulmonology (lung diseases).
• Bariatric Clinic: To treat children with severe obesity, this clinic offers a comprehensive range of services, including education and support as well as surgical and non-surgical treatments and procedures.
• Celiac Disease Clinic: This multidisciplinary clinic provides care to children with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition in which patients must strictly adhere to a gluten-free diet.
• Cystic Fibrosis Program: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease in which thick mucus is produced. This mucus can cause a number of health problems and prevent normal digestion. Our gastroenterology team partners with the Cystic Fibrosis Program at Phoenix Children’s to care for digestive problems that occur with CF.
• Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Clinic: This clinic provides care for children with eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease (EGID), including eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). The clinic brings together Phoenix Children’s gastroenterologists, allergists, immune disease specialists and nutritionists.
• Feeding Disorder Tube Weaning Program: Our aerodigestive care teams help children get the nutrition they need orally. We work to resolve aerodigestive issues and train children to overcome aversions and other challenges.
• Fontan Clinic: The multidisciplinary team within the hospital’s Fontan Clinic cares for patients with congenital heart disease who have undergone a Fontan procedure. Our focus is to improve long-term outcomes by evaluating patients for complications such as Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD).
• Foregut Clinic: In this clinic, GI specialists work with pediatric surgeons to care for patients with complex conditions of the esophagus, intestines and biliary system.
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Program: Hundreds of children and adolescents rely on our IBD Program for care. We provide leading-edge therapies, educational programs, support groups and the chance to join research studies. We are committed to helping kids with IBD have the best possible health and quality of life.
• Liver Transplant Program: Our gastroenterologists work with hepatologists and transplant surgeons within our Liver Transplant Program to care for children in need of a liver transplant.
• Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Clinic: Formerly called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), this clinic offers advanced diagnostics, clinical expertise and various treatment options to address your child’s whole-body health.
• Motility Clinic: This clinic’s team of specialists cares for children with motility disorders that cause spasms or lack of motion anywhere along the GI tract.
• Nutritional Rehab Clinic: Through inpatient and outpatient services, this clinic brings together GI specialists, pediatric surgeons and registered dietitians. We care for patients with short bowel (sometimes called “short gut”) syndrome and many other related GI conditions. 
• Pediatric Feeding Disorders Clinic: Our Feeding Disorders Clinic is a collaboration between the GI team and the Phoenix Children’s acute inpatient rehabilitation program. It is the only medical program in Arizona providing comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for children with severe feeding disturbances.
• Pelvic Floor Therapy: We offer anorectal biofeedback to help treat chronic constipation by teaching children the correct muscle control needed for normal bowel movements
• Urology-Motility Clinic: This clinic offers advanced care for children with voiding and stooling disorders. Clinic visits allow you and your child to meet with a urologist, gastroenterologist and a rehab specialist trained in pelvic floor therapy.

Phoenix Children’s offers comprehensive testing and treatment for GI conditions. Whenever possible, our providers use minimally invasive techniques instead of open surgeries. This approach can lead to less anesthesia, less pain and faster healing for your child.

Our team specializes in therapeutic endoscopy, a highly specialized type of endoscopy that combines state-of-the-art imaging with an advanced endoscopy procedure for these and other treatments:

• Biliary pancreatic special scope for ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) 
• EndoflipTM and EsoflipTM evaluations
• Intestinal dilation and stricture management
• Polyp removal

Endoscopy

Endoscopy uses a thin, flexible tube with a camera and a light source on the end. Our advanced endoscopic procedures diagnose and treat a range of GI disorders.
Instead of making an incision in the skin, the endoscopist guides the endoscope through a natural opening in the body (such as the mouth, nose or anus). The endoscopist then slides very small tools through the endoscope to diagnose or treat many GI problems.

Therapeutic endoscopy is used to diagnose conditions, as well as sometimes take a biopsy (tissue sample) for testing in a lab. It’s used to evaluate, and at times treat, these and other conditions:

• Narrowing in the esophagus or other parts of the GI tract
• Conditions of the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreas and pancreatic duct
• Polyps, which are growths in the GI tract that usually are not cancerous
• Bleeding deep in the small intestine
• Foreign bodies in the GI tract (such as a toy that the child swallowed)

Imaging

Imaging technology provides detailed pictures taken from outside the body to show internal organs. Some of our advanced imaging equipment includes:

• Advanced CT scans 
• Contrast radiographic studies
• Specialized MRIs
• Ultrasound, including a new intestinal ultrasound technique
• X-ray, including specialized contrast X-ray studies

Phoenix Children’s is one of only a few medical centers in the United States to offer these specialized services for children. This type of specialization through state-of-the-art technology is important because children have unique medical needs.