The American Journal of Medicine Blog

Inflammatory bowel disease is characterized by an aberrant immune activation in genetically susceptible individuals, leading to gut inflammation. Despite recent therapeutic advances in inflammatory bowel disease, a substantial proportion of patients do not respond to the currently available drugs. Moreover, there are concerns regarding potential long-term consequences of immunosuppressive therapy. Thus, researchers have sought methods […]

To the Editor: An 83-year-old woman with a medical history of hypertension, chronic renal failure, and diabetes mellitus came to the emergency department of our clinic after 2 days of fever, asthenia, adynamia, and hypogastric abdominal pain associated with dysuria, polyuria, and bladder tenesmus. Her family reported that she had been increasingly fatigued in the […]

We read the report on Schistosoma japonicum with great interest.1 Kiyani et al reported a case of “hyperplastic polyps with numerous parasite eggs most consistent with Schistosoma japonicum” detected from colorectal cancer screening.1 Indeed, S. japonicum infection is an important fluke infestation. The colon abnormality in the patient with S. japonicum infection is sporadically reported. Imai et al mentioned that “Colonic schistosomiasis is a probable independent […]

On March 12, 1938, Nazi troops invaded Austria. Three days later, in Vienna, a nearly 80-year-old physician named Ismar Boas (1858-1938) (Figure) committed suicide. Thus ended the life of a pioneering founder of gastroenterology.1 In 1886, Boas opened the first specialty clinic for digestive diseases in Berlin. In 1895, he founded the first gastroenterology journal, […]

A 33-year-old woman with history of diverticulitis status post hemicolectomy and idiopathic hypoparathyroidism presented with tetany and facial twitching for 3 months. She was transferred to a tertiary medical center for refractory tetany. She presented to her physician earlier in the week for diffuse muscle cramps and facial twitching. On review of her medical record, […]

The purpose of our study is to investigate the delay in diagnosis of patients with biopsy-proven celiac disease in those who present with gastrointestinal complaints vs nongastrointestinal complaints at our tertiary care center. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that affects approximately 1% of the population worldwide. Celiac disease can have variable clinical presentations; it […]