Gastroenterology & GI Surgery

The pediatric gastroenterology team at Phoenix Children’s treats all conditions affecting the digestive tract:

Esophagus

  • Aerodigestive issues: Issues affecting swallowing, breathing and feeding 
  • Eosinophilic esophagitis: An allergic condition that can lead to scarring and narrowing in the esophagus (tube that connects the throat and stomach) 
  • Feeding and swallowing difficulties: Including esophageal dysmotility and other disorders that cause the esophagus muscles to work improperly
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): Long-term disorder that causes food to flow back up (reflux) into the food pipe (esophagus)
  • Esophageal strictures and stenosis: Narrowing of the esophagus

Stomach

  • Chronic abdominal pain: Describes any long-term pain that occurs at, above or below the stomach
  • Gastric outlet obstructions (including antral webs): Condition when the lower part of the stomach is blocked where it leads into the small intestine
  • Gastroparesis: Condition that causes the stomach to empty slowly, leading to motility issues and symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, bloating and abdominal pain
  • Helicobacter pylori: A common bacterial infection in the stomach that potentially causes damage along the digestive tract
  • Gastritis: Inflammation of the stomach lining
  • Peptic ulcer disease: Condition that causes open sores (ulcers) in the lining of the stomach (gastric ulcers) or first part of the small intestine (duodenal ulcers)

Small & Large Intestines (Colon)

  • Celiac disease: An autoimmune condition in which patients must strictly follow a gluten-free diet.
  • Colorectal disorders: Any condition affecting the colon or rectum
  • Crohn’s disease: A type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes redness, swelling and sores along the digestive tract
  • Chronic constipation: Including colonic dysmotility, which causes very hard stools and fewer bowel movements than normal
  • Chronic diarrhea: Loose, watery stools that occur more than once a day and last more than a month
  • Duodenal webs and stenosis: Conditions at birth that narrow or block the first part of the small intestine (duodenum) making it difficult to pass food along the digestive tract
  • Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): Disorders that cause long-term inflammation (swelling) and damage along the GI tract
  • Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): A long-term disorder that affects the intestine, causing painful belly and bowel symptoms
  • Gastrointestinal bleeding: Bleeding that occurs anywhere along the GI tract
  • Malabsorption disorders: These disorders prevent the body from absorbing nutrients through the small intestine
  • Polyps: Growths in the GI tract that usually are not cancerous
  • Short bowel syndrome: A problem with the small intestine that prevents the body from properly absorbing nutrients from food during digestion
  • Ulcerative colitis: A form of IBD when the inner lining of the large intestine and rectum are inflamed

Liver

  • Acute liver failure: A severe breakdown of liver function after a large part of the liver is damaged from any type of liver disorder
  • Chronic liver diseases: Long-term problems with liver function
  • Metabolic liver diseases: A group of liver conditions that lead to a buildup of fat in the liver
  • Steatotic liver disease: Including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a condition when excess fat builds up in the liver, based on a variety of causes
  • Liver tumors: Abnormal masses of tissue in the liver that could be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous)