MD Ramon C. Henson
Built for the fellow who moves from a variceal bleed to an abnormal liver panel to a flare of ulcerative colitis in one afternoon, this reference connects the physiology of the alimentary tract, liver, and pancreas to the specific cutoff that decides what happens next. It moves organ system by organ system, from antireflux barrier and gastric acid physiology through portal hypertension and hepatic synthetic failure, translating mechanism into the graded scores that govern practice. Threshold callouts embedded in every chapter, plus a cross-referenced master index at the back of the book, turn a dozen overlapping scoring systems into one retrievable habit. Every Chapter Trains You To • Triage suspected GI bleeding before endoscopy - shock index and Tokyo Guidelines cholangitis grading that convert vital signs into a resuscitation or drainage decision before diagnosis is confirmed. • Grade the bleeding ulcer correctly - Forrest classification reasoning separating the lesion needing endoscopic hemostasis from the one that does not. • Move Barrett surveillance to eradication - dysplasia-grade thresholds, confirmed by expert pathology, that decide when ablation replaces continued surveillance. • Call the day-three decision in acute severe ulcerative colitis - corticosteroid response criteria that determine rescue therapy or colectomy before the window closes. • Read cirrhosis by stage, not symptom - Child-Pugh, MELD, and variceal prophylaxis thresholds that convert decompensation into a transplant-referral timeline. • Triage upper and lower GI hemorrhage - Glasgow-Blatchford scoring and colonoscopy-timing criteria that decide admission, endoscopy window, and escalation to angiography. • Separate biliary emergencies from routine colic - severity-graded criteria for cholecystitis and cholangitis that set surgical timing and drainage urgency. • Prepare for ABIM certification with the same reasoning you use at the bedside. Open it before your next consult - the threshold behind every GI decision, indexed and ready.
