Specialist physicians working in gastroenterology units receive 5 years of internal medicine specialty training after 6 years of medical education. Afterwards, they specialize in gastrointestinal system diseases and endoscopic diagnosis and treatments for these diseases that last at least 3 years. In the gastroenterology department, diagnosis and treatment of diseases including esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas and gall bladder are performed. In addition to the medical treatment of the diseases, in the gastroenterology units where endoscopic applications are made, the imaging procedures of the biliary tract, pancreas, stomach, small and large intestines are frequently performed. Gastroenterologists are the most competent physician group for procedures such as upper endoscopy, colonoscopy and ERCP. In cancer and similar diseases related to the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, biopsy procedures, which are frequently applied for the liver, are also carried out in the gastroenterology units together with surgical specialists.
Diseases that gastroenterologists concern with
– Indigestion
– Abdominal pain
– Constipation
– Diarrhea
– Nausea
– Vomiting
– Brackish water in the mouth (reflux)
– Burning sensation behind the chest, not associated with the heart (reflux)
– Inflammation in the stomach (often with a burning sensation in the stomach; gastritis, etc.)
– Stomach ulcers
– Duodenum ulcers
– Stomach bleeding
– Intestinal bleeding
– Special intestinal diseases
– Diverticula
– Ulcerative colitis
– Crohn’s disease
– Polyps in the digestive system (colon (large intestine), stomach, small intestine)
– Hemorrhoids
– Hepatitis
– Jaundice
– Stones in the biliary tract
– Food allergies and food sensitivity (celiac disease, lactose intolerance etc.)
– Pancreatic inflammation (pancreatitis)
– Cancers (esophagus, stomach, intestine, liver, biliary tract and pancreatic cancers) Screening for bowel cancer and polyps in the intestines
– Unexplained weight loss
