Conditions and Treatments

Mount Sinai’s pediatric gastroenterologists have expertise in treating children with any of a wide variety of digestive and nutritional disorders including inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), Celiac disease, abdominal pain, constipation, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and feeding problems.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Both illnesses tend to strike during childhood, on average at the age of 11. Both conditions cause inflammation and pain.

Our Pediatric IBD Program is one of the largest in the country and treats children and young adults from across the country and around the world. We provide diagnostic evaluations, second opinions, and ongoing treatment. Our multidisciplinary team includes pediatric gastroenterologists, nurse practitioners, social workers, nutritionists, and child life specialists. We work closely with you and your child for the best possible outcome.

At The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center, we develop personalized treatment plans to help your child lead a normal, productive life. We work closely with the adult gastroenterology program, and our integrated approach offers opportunities for comprehensive research and collaboration, and allows us to transition children seamlessly into the adult IBD program when they are ready.

The Henry and Elaine Kaufman Intestinal Ultrasound Program within the IBD clinical center offers limited abdominal ultrasounds during routine and urgent clinic visits as a method of non-invasively detecting disease activity at the point-of-care.

Pediatric Small Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Program works closely with our small intestinal surgeons to provide comprehensive medical and surgical management for a wide variety of diseases including short gut and intestinal failure.

Program for Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Disorders and Diseases includes comprehensive programs that optimize the treatment of disorders and diseases affecting the esophagus, stomach and small bowel:

• Pediatric Celiac Disease Program offers medical and nutritional management along with psychosocial support for patients with celiac disease and their families.
• Pediatric Aerodigestive Program is an interdisciplinary program including GI, ENT, pulmonary, complex care pediatricians, speech language pathologists, dieticians and nurses to provide comprehensive coordinated care for children with complex conditions of the upper airway, GI, and pulmonary systems
• Pediatric Eosinophilic Disorder Program offers medical and nutritional management of eosinophilic esophagitis and eosinophilic gastroenteritis. We work in close coordination with our world-class food allergists to provide optimal care for children with these disorders.
• Pediatric Esophageal Motility Disorder Program offers motility studies of the upper gastrointestinal tract including ph and impedance monitoring, 

Pediatric Gastroenterology Services provides complete diagnostic and treatment services to our young patients.

Pediatric Endoscopy Services
Endoscopy is a procedure that enables your doctor to examine the inside of your child’s digestive tract (including the stomach, intestines, and esophagus or food pipe). This information can help us determine what is going on and prescribe the appropriate treatment.

Our pediatric gastroenterologists are trained especially to perform endoscopy on children and interpret the results. We use advanced optics and visualization systems that allow safe, fast, accurate and painless examinations of the digestive tract and adjacent organs. We work closely with pediatric anesthesiologists and state-of-the-art-technology to ensure pain-free examinations. It is an outpatient procedure and does not require a hospital stay.

We also have the ability to provide advanced therapeutic endoscopy in special cases. This is when therapeutic procedures are performed using endoscopy as the primary tool including endoscopic ultrasound, stent placement, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), feeding tube (gastrostomy) placement and others. These minimally invasive procedures do not require incisions, so they generally result in faster recovery, less pain and patients often times return home the same day.

Preparing for Your Child’s Endoscopy
It is natural for you, as parents, to have questions about this examination. We offer a program, called Meet Me at Mount Sinai to help you prepare your child for an endoscopy and other medical procedures. This program enables you and your child to visit our facilities and ask questions before the day of the procedure. You can also call our office with any questions you may have.

Intestinal Rehabilitation

To provide your child with comprehensive medical and surgical management for a wide variety of intestinal diseases including short gut, we work closely with our small intestinal surgeons.

Endoscopy Exam

Endoscopy is a procedure that enables your doctor to examine the inside of your child’s digestive tract (including the stomach, intestines, and esophagus or food pipe). This information can help us determine what is going on and prescribe the appropriate treatment.

Our pediatric gastroenterologists are trained especially to perform endoscopy on children and interpret the results. We use advanced optics and visualization systems that allow safe, fast, accurate and painless examinations of the digestive tract and adjacent organs. We work closely with pediatric anesthesiologists and state-of-the-art-technology to ensure pain-free examinations. Our pediatric gastroenterologists are specially trained to perform endoscopy on children and interpret the results.

To do this, we use an instrument called an endoscope, which is a thin, flexible tube with a light and miniature video camera at one end. We insert the endoscope into the body through a natural opening such as the mouth or anus, and the camera sends a video image to a monitor that allows us to see the inside of your child’s gastrointestinal tract. It is an outpatient procedure and does not require a hospital stay.

Preparing for Your Child’s Endoscopy

It is natural for you, as parents, to have questions about this examination. We offer a program, called Meet Me at Mount Sinai to help you prepare your child for an endoscopy and other medical procedures. This program enables you and your child to visit our facilities and ask questions before the day of the procedure. You can also call our office with any questions you may have.

Endoscopies are important tools that enable us to make an accurate diagnosis. To learn more about preparing your child for this or other medical procedures and to arrange a pre-admission tour, contact the staff at Meet Me at Mount Sinai at 212-241-9403.

Your child's doctor will coordinate with our staff to schedule your child’s endoscopy. Once arrangements are made, we will provide specific preparation instructions, including details about your child's diet leading up to the procedure. We tailor preparation instructions specifically to your child’s needs.

On the day of the procedure, you and your child will meet with members of the pediatric gastroenterology staff and a nurse from the endoscopy suite. You will also meet the pediatric anesthesiologist who will sedate your child for a relaxed and easy experience. Our doctors and staff carefully monitor your child before, during, and after the endoscopy. As your child is ready, you will be able to take him or her home. Your doctor will arrange with you to share the results of the endoscopy.