The principal diseases it is concerned with are acute diarrhea, persistent vomiting, gastritis, and problems with the development of the gastric tract.
A person who contributed to the development of the specialty was Dr. Samuel Gee in London with his focus on serious clinical conditions in children such as celiac disease and cyclic vomiting syndrome.
Pediatricians and biochemists were crucial to the development of such specialty since they created the ability to calculate the fat in the feces of celiac patients with or without gluten.
Pediatric gastroenterology centers in London contributed greatly to this field and hepatology by helping and recognizing multiple doctors with their investigations.
An example is Tom Macdonald, who concentrated his immunological research on gastroenterological diseases in children and the use of a fetal intestinal organ culture model.
After working in Zurich, Salvatore Auricchio went on to establish an important center in Naples which focused research on celiac disease, the physiology of absorption, and oral re hydration therapy.
In a center located in Brussels, led by E. Eggermont and Helmuth Loeb, Samy Cadranel started developing the concept of endoscopy in children.
A pediatric gastroenterology program focusing on researching inflammatory bowel disease, infectious diarrhea, and motility disorders associated with gastrointestinal complications such as constipation and gastro esophageal reflux was established by Murray Davidson at the Albert Einstein Medical School and the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York.
[1] Many more centers have been developed in multiple places including Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Jerusalem, São Paulo, Santiago, Taipei, and Tokyo.
[1] The specialty of pediatric gastroenterology requires four years of undergraduate courses at a college or university in order to obtain a BS, BA, or other bachelor's degree.
Both in children should be treated by a gastric pediatrician and a pediatric nutritionist at the same time to help the child recover his normal weight without secondary effects (hypertension, gastritis, etc.).
[5] Infant regurgitation is caused by a central nervous system reflex involving both autonomic and skeletal muscles in which gastric contents are forcefully expelled through the mouth because of coordinated movements of the small bowel, stomach, esophagus, and diaphragm.
Diagnosis requires that the child be between 1 and 12, the regurgitation must be two or more times per day for three or more weeks, and there is a strong involuntary effort to vomit, hematemesis, aspiration, apnea, failure to thrive, or abnormal posturing.