Aaron Recendez was in his junior year of high school when he felt some discomfort in his abdomen which seemed to be a symptom of the common flu. Aaron stayed home from school and the next few days, instead of getting better he was feeling worse. Aaron couldn’t stand up straight and his family started to worry. Thanks to the advice of Aaron’s pediatrician, his parents decided to visit Miller Children’s Hospital, a licensed children’s hospital specializing solely in care for kids.
After evaluating Aaron and doing some tests, the care team at the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Center discovered that Aaron’s illness was the result of superior mesenteric artery (SMA) syndrome, a rare and potentially deadly disorder. It was then that Aaron’s mother, Lupe, started to feel at ease, because she knew they could help him.
“We often see symptoms like Aaron’s in patients with SMA syndrome,” says pediatric gastroenterologist Barry Steinmetz, M.D., medical director of Miller Children’s Hospital outpatient specialty centers. “The condition is challenging to diagnose, since the symptoms are similar to other diseases.” Dr. Steinmetz performed a minimally invasive, endoscopic procedure that corrected his problem. “Many illnesses that afflict children are rare in adults, or they affect young people in different ways, which is why it’s so important to seek care at a hospital just for kids,” Dr. Steinmetz says.
Aaron and his family credit the outstanding care he received at Miller Children’s for giving him his life back. Today Aaron, a high school graduate, is looking forward to a career in animation which he can now do thanks to the specialized care of Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach.
Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition Center
 The Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Center at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach provides a multidisciplinary and multispecialty approach for consultation, diagnostic testing and medical management of children with liver, nutritional, and gastrointestinal conditions. Children ages birth through 21 years of age, who are treated for conditions involving the stomach, esophagus, small intestine and large intestine (colon), liver, gallbladder and pancreas receive a comprehensive care plan that manages a child’s symptoms from diagnosis to treatment by a specialized care team, often working closely with other pediatric sub-specialists.
Gastroenterologists perform procedures such as liver biopsies and endoscopic "scope" examinations of the esophagus, stomach, small and large bowel. Some common tests preformed include, stool tests, blood tests, upper GI series or various radiology exams and endoscopic “scope” procedures to help diagnose and treat various stomach and gastro-intestinal conditions.
GI Lab & Motility Program
Miller Children’s offers a gastrointestinal lab and motility program that cares for patients and their families with timely and reliable diagnostic studies, treatment planning and education. In the lab and motility program we treat and care for neonates, infants, pediatric and adolescent patients. The most common diagnosis is gastro-esophageal reflux.
Designated CCS Center
The Gatroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition Center at Miller Children’s is a California Children’s Services (CCS) approved Special Care Center (SCC) for gastrointestinal disorders. This means a specially designated multi-disciplinary care team is responsible for all care coordination and case management of a patient in this program. Patients typically qualify for the Gastrointestinal CCS Special Care Center by medical diagnosis, complexity of their disease and financial status.
Miller Children’s Stands Apart
- Miller Children’s Hospital is one of a few hospitals in the area to use the Bravo Implantable pH Probe, the world’s first catheter-free Intraesophageal pH probe pH test. Bravo provides a more comfortable and convenient way to evaluate reflux and heartburn symptoms when compared to catheter-based pH monitoring systems.
- Miller Children’s Hospital is one of the few hospitals on the West Coast that performs impedance studies. These tests are done to find out if the contents of the stomach are coming up into the esophagus or food tube.
- Miller Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Center’s specialists and the health care team work closely with the Pulmonary, Allergy and Cystic Fibrosis Center – one of the largest in the U.S. – in the comprehensive care for cystic fibrosis patients who have lung and GI ailments.
|
care centers 
