The Digestive Involvement In Systemic Autoimmune Diseases

The Digestive System in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases, Second Edition, represents the state-of-the-art in the field of digestive disorders in the most common systemic autoimmune diseases. This volume consists of an introductory chapter on imaging techniques in digestive diseases, followed by eight chapters on digestive manifestations in specific systemic autoimmune diseases. The final five chapters deal with digestive diseases with an autoimmune pathogenesis and systemic manifestations. International in scope, the table of contents reads like a Who's who in clinical research on systemic autoimmune diseases. More than 20 contributors from the European Union, the United States, Mexico, and South Africa share their knowledge in this detailed volume. The book provides an overview of our current understanding of digestive disorders in the most common systemic autoimmune diseases. Completely updated, including five new chapters Presents up-to-date information, giving the reader easy access to individual topics in one place Written by leading international clinical and scientific experts on autoimmune and digestive diseases Provides a practical guide to the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of digestive involvement in patients with autoimmune diseases that will be useful for all medical specialties Includes several diseases and conditions not included in other texts, some of which have only recently emerged Designed to serve as a guide to clinical practice

In this book is found the information essential to diagnosing, managing and treating the lung complications of connective tissue diseases. This is a notoriously difficult area, which continues to puzzle clinicians, despite the fact that these disorders are increasingly frequent (as a result of longer survival in connective tissue disease). In separate chapters, the major connective tissue diseases are reviewed, with detailed discussion of a variety of lung abnormalities, including pleural disease, parenchymal lung disease and pulmonary vascular disease. There are also invaluable overviews of lung histological and CT appearances in these disorders, and a deeply insightful chapter on drug-induced lung disease in connective tissue disease. The emphasis in this book is on accuracy of evaluation and the construction of a logical management plan, based on disease severity and intrinsic progressiveness.

This book is the proceedings of the Falk Symposium No. 127 on `Autoimmune Diseases in Paediatric Gastroenterology' (IV International Falk Symposium on Paediatric Gastroenterology), held in Basel, Switzerland, on November 8-9, 2001. The symposium focused on the role of the immune system, both the acquired and the innate systems, in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in children and adolescents. The innate system has an important fundamental role in host defence by initiating immune responses against potentially deleterious matter. However, a mutation within the innate system may elicit an immune response against the host: hence, an autoimmune response. Chronic autoimmune hepatitis occurs predominantly in young people, and especially in women. Immunological changes are conspicuous. Tissue antibodies are found in a large number of patients. This is a disease of disordered immunoregulation marked by a deficit in suppressor T cells causing the production of autoantibodies against specific hepatocyte surface antigen. Liver membrane protein is found in the sera of patients with autoimmune chronic acute hepatitis and with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The latter condition of progressive granulomatous destruction of intrahepatic bile ducts is, in many respects, analogous to the graft-versus-host syndrome where the immune system has become sensitized to foreign HLA-molecules. Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is another condition of unknown origin. All parts of the biliary tree can be involved in a chronic, fibrosing, inflammatory process that results in obliteration of the biliary tree and ultimately in biliary cirrhosis. About half of the patients also suffer from ulcerative colitis and rarely from Crohn's disease. Circulating antibodies to some antigens are found in obstructed portal tracts, as well as increased concentrations of biliary immune complexes in patients with PBC. In all three previous Falk symposia on paediatric gastroenterology, attention was focused on the role of the innate immune system in the aetiology of IBD. It has become increasingly clear in recent years that the innate system has a much more important and fundamental role in host defence. The decision to initiate an immune response is one of the major roles of the innate system. Mutations within this system could transform it into becoming constitutively active, resulting in an inflammatory reaction and thus eliciting an autoimmune response. Following an introduction to the basic phenomena of autoimmunity, the proceedings discuss clinical aspects of autoimmune diseases. In particular, current knowledge and the state of the art about the diagnosis and treatment of the autoimmune diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are described by world-renowned experts. The book also contains the short presentations on selected topics, as well as abstracts of the mini-posters read by title, which were included in the symposium.

Surveys the biotechnologically influenced advances in the understanding of systemic autoimmune disorders, highlighting recent research using cell biology and biochemistry, the cloning of immune cells, recombinant DNA, and molecular genetics. Among the topics are the role of complement in inflammatio

The Digestive System in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases represents the state-of-the-art in the field of digestive disorders in the most common systemic autoimmune diseases. The volume consists of an introductory chapter on imaging techniques in digestive diseases, followed by eight chapters on digestive manifestations in specific systemic autoimmune diseases. The final five chapters deal with digestive diseases with an autoimmune pathogenesis and systemic manifestations. International in scope, the table of contents reads like a Who's who in clinical research on systemic autoimmune diseases. More than 20 contributors from the European Union, the United States, Mexico and South Africa share their knowledge in this detailed volume. *One book of leading international clinical and scientific experts on autoimmune and digestive diseases *A practical guide to the identification, diagnosis and treatment of digestive involvement in patients with autoimmune diseases that will be useful for all medical specialties *Several diseases and conditions not included in other text books are included, some of which are of recent emergence *Each chapter is designed to serve as a “Guide to Clinical Practice for each disease

The second edition, which appears seven years after the first, is a more comprehensive text and addresses the many recent advances in basic and clinical science applicable to autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and autoimmune aspects of viral-, drug- and alcohol-induced liver disease and hepatocellular cancer. Pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment are discussed in depth in light of current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of autoimmunity as it applies to liver disease.

This Open Access book presents practical approaches to managing patients affected by various rheumatological diseases, allowing readers to gain a better understanding of the various clinical expressions and problems experienced by these patients. Discussing rheumatology from an organ systems perspective, it highlights the importance ofdetailed musculoskeletal examinations when treating patients affected by rheumatological diseases. The book first explores the latest diagnostic approaches and offers key tips for accurate musculoskeletal examinations before addressing the various treatment modalities, with a particular focus on the most common joints involved in rheumatoid arthritis: the wrists and the metacarpophalangeal joints (2nd and 3rd). Featuring easy-to-understand flow diagrams and explaining the common medical problems associated with rheumatic disease, such as shortness of breath and anemia, it is not only a valuable resource to rheumatologists, but will also appeal to medical students, junior residents, and primary healthcare physicians.