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Digestive Disorders
There are many problems that may affect a child's digestive system that require clinical care by a physician or other healthcare professional. Common ones include abdominal pain, constipation, gastroesophageal reflux, diarrhea and malabsorption syndromes, inflammatory bowel disease and intestinal bleeding. Liver diseases include jaundice, hyperbilirubinemia, viral and autoimmune hepatitis, liver failure, neonatal cholestasis and metabolic liver disease.
Nutritional diseases that commonly affect children include failure to thrive, feeding disorders, short bowel syndrome and obesity. Evaluations and treatment include specialized enteral and parenteral nutrition.
Through the Gastroenterology (GI) Diagnostic Laboratory, the practice provides procedural services including upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy, colonoscopy, intraesophageal pH probe monitoring, percutaneous liver biopsies and suction rectal biopsies. Other services include breath hydrogen testing for children with suspected lactose intolerance and breath testing for H. Pylori infections. Our specialists are skilled at therapeutic endoscopic procedures including foreign body removal, polypectomy, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement and esophageal dilatation for esophageal strictures.
Our physicians are board-certified in both pediatrics and pediatric gastroenterology, an advanced sub-specialty fellowship.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (215) 427-6778.
Meet the Team
St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia has a highly qualified team of board-certified experts who are specially trained to work with the individual and unique needs of infants and pediatric patients.
The team is led by Robert McGregor, MD, Acting Chief, Section of Gastroenterology.