A new study shows that muscle cells grown in the lab can restore an intestine’s ability to squeeze shut properly. The work, performed in dogs and rats, might ultimately help treat patients with conditions such as gastric reflux and fecal incontinence.

Contrary to current thinking, a condition called gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) might not develop as a direct result of acidic digestive juices burning the esophagus, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found in an animal study.

Despite being highly effective and beneficial for many patients, unexpected consequences are emerging in patients who are prescribed proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for reflux diseases. Physicians are warned to monitor these effects and prescribe these medications carefully, according to a new commentary published in the November 2009 issue of Otolaryngology -Head and Neck Surgery.

A popular stomach-acid reducer used to prevent stress ulcers in critically ill patients needing breathing machine support increases the risk of those patients contracting pneumonia threefold, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Surgery without an incision is now possible. Yesterday Goshen General Hospital and Drs. Mark Ranzinger and Norbert Schwer, of Gerig Surgical Associates and medical staff at Goshen General Hospital, became the first hospital and surgeons in Indiana to perform an incisionless surgery to treat heartburn.