Foreword

Article Outline

• Copyright

Constipation, abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal complaints make up an important piece of the fabric of the child health clinician's day in his/her office. Dr. Ryan Carvalho and his pediatric gastroenterology colleagues at The Children's Medical Center of Dayton (Drs. Sonia Michail, Farhat Ashai-Khan and Adam Mezoff) have compiled a uniquely practical compendium to assist the child health clinician to provide exemplary care for these children/adolescents. The wide range of topics addressed by these master clinicians include gastroesophageal reflux, chronic constipation, inflammatory bowel disease and the latest on probiotics. There is a very useful section on infant formula and a fascinating overview of the new endoscopic advances. The reader will find numerous clinical “pearls” (NOT easily accessible by a web search) in this issue regarding the diagnosis and management of children/adolescents with complaints that the busy child health clinician sees each day in his/her office. This issue deserves a prominent place on the shelf of primary care clinicians who strive to provide high quality health care to their patients.