Dubai Health Authority's smart clinic discusses the important of early detection of gastric diseases.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 18, 2016:  Gastroenterologists highlighted today during DHA’s smart clinic, the importance of early detection of gastric diseases to prevent the onset of complications.

Gastroenterology is a branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. Gastric diseases are as common as heart diseases and often stress, genetic predisposition, food allergies and poor eating habits are the factors that trigger such diseases.

Stress can either lead to or aggravate GI diseases such as acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which affects the gut by inducing excessive secretions, causing diarrhea and persistent pain in the stomach.

Rashid Hospital provides adult gastroenterology services. In 2014, Rashid Hospital expanded its gastroenterology services and has a dedicated unit due to the high number of gastroenterology cases it receives every year. The expansion has helped provide comprehensive in-patient gastroenterology services to patients. Dubai Hospital runs a paediatric gastroenterology clinic.

On a yearly basis, Rashid hospital conducts more than 7000 gastroenterology procedures; these include in-patient and outpatient procedures.  In-patient services include all cases of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, liver disease etc. while the outpatient services include endoscopy, colonoscopy, double-balloon enteroscopy etc.

Dr Moza Al Falasi, gastroenterologist at Rashid Hospital, said: “Of the diseases we see, the most common disease is IBS in which stress plays an important factor, it either triggers the disease or it can cause it. The other common disease is fatty liver, which is primarily due to obesity, which leads to accumulation of fat in liver. It may not damage the liver, but when inflammation develops, a patient can end up with serious consequences, such as liver cirrhosis and liver failure. Most of the patients we see are in the later stages when they already have a complication such as liver cirrhosis due to fatty liver. The issue is that fatty liver is a silent disease and therefore our advice to people who are obese or borderline obese and those with diabetes is to ensure they regularly get a liver function test done.”

She said other common GI problems are GI bleeding, inflammatory bowel syndrome and colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is the most common cancer of the gastrointestinal tract.

In pediatric GI diseases, generally, fatty liver is diagnosed in time. Among the other GI diseases in children, celiac disease is common.

Celiac disease is the inability of the body to digest gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and processed oats). When people with this disease eat gluten, their body mounts an immune response that attacks the small intestine. These attacks lead to damage on the villi (small finger-like projections that line the small intestine, that promote nutrient absorption.) When the villi get damaged, nutrients cannot be absorbed properly into the body.

As per Dubai Hospital’s paediatric gastroenterology registry, the number of children with celiac disease is approximately 50 and as per Rashid Hospital’s adult gastroenterology registry, the number of adults with celiac disease is approximately 25 patients.

Often celiac disease is hereditary, meaning that it runs in families but this does not mean that those without a family history will not develop celiac disease.

Dr Yaser Kamal Rashed, consultant in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and endoscopy, said: “Different people will experience the disease in different ways, because the symptoms vary greatly from one person to the next. Suspected Patients should undergo the following tests: a blood test to check the antibody level against gluten. The test is known as TTGA Tissue Transglutaminase (TTG) Antibody. They should also get an IgA test done to measure the blood level of immunoglobulin A. The doctor will then decide whether to do an upper endoscopy or not.

“The biggest problem we see is the lack of awareness. It is important for people to understand that wheat allergy is different from celiac disease.  To diagnose celiac disease an allergy test is not required and is an incorrect method.”

Rashed said that symptoms often differ in children and adults. “Children may experience growth problems, decreased appetite and failure to gain weight, chronic diarrhea, iron deficiency, chronic constipation, vomiting, abdominal bloating and pain, fatigue and irritability. Children may also show signs of malnourishment. That is because the disease prevents the body from absorbing essential nutrients. For adults, the symptoms include iron deficiency, bone or joint pain, arthritis, depression or anxiety, bone loss or osteoporosis, tingling numbness in hands and feet, erratic menstrual periods, fertility problems and dermatology problems.”

In terms of treatment, Rashed, said: “Currently the only treatment for people with celiac disease is lifelong adherence to a strict gluten-free diet.”