[The Most Common Acute Gastrointestinal Infections]. / Die häufigsten akuten gastrointestinalen Infektionen.

Acute gastrointestinal infections and diarrhea with vomiting as its main presentation are a frequently encountered entity in an outpatient setting. Due to a mostly self-limiting disease course a diagnostic work-up is often futile. Viral infections caused by Noro- or Rotavirus are most frequent, while bacterial infections are second line due to high hygienic standards in developed countries. In an inpatient setting and after a precedent antibiotic treatment one should think of clostridium difficile. Traveler's diarrhea represents a special case, with most of the cases caused by enterovirulent E. coli. In this mini review we describe the most important pathogens in detail.

[Rare diagnosis as the etiology of abdominal pain after cholecystectomy]. / Seltene Diagnose als Ursache von Abdominalschmerzen nach Cholezystektomie.

We report a case of a 77-year old female patient with abdominal pain in the upper right part. In the computertomography we had the suspicion of a rare small bowel diverticulitis which was confirmed in laparoscopic and histopathologic diagnostics. After surgical excision the patient was free of symptoms.

Perception of gastrointestinal endoscopy by patients and examiners with and without background music.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Several studies have reported improved patient comfort with music in the preoperative setting, however music has seldom been assessed during gastrointestinal endoscopy. We aimed to assess how background music may influence the perception of patients and examiners involved in endoscopic examinations. METHODS: 301 patients (128 females, 173 males; mean age 59 years) were included in the study (EGD and colonoscopy) in a prospective fashion. 90 EGD and 61 colonoscopies were performed with music (50.17%) and 102 EGD and 48 colonoscopies without music (49.83%). Patients, nurses and endoscopists completed a questionnaire. RESULTS: No significant differences in demographic data were found between the patients examined with or without music. Tolerance to the examination, pain sensation and perception of the endoscopy room ambiance were similar in both groups. The majority of patients (83.4%) expressed a preference for music during any future endoscopic examination and none perceived the music as disturbing. During the 151 examinations, music was considered unpleasant in 14 examinations by the physicians (9.3%) and in 11 examinations by the nurses (7.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Music has little influence on patients' experience of gastrointestinal endoscopy. Nevertheless, the majority of patients felt music to be helpful and expressed a preference for music during any future examination. This positive attitude to music of patients is in contrast with the assessment of some endoscopists and nurses.