Krishnan B, Babu S, Walker J, Walker AB, Pappachan JM. Gastrointestinal complications of diabetes mellitus. World J Diabetes 2013; 4(3): 51-63 [PMID: 23772273 DOI: 10.4239/wjd.v4.i3.51]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Joseph M Pappachan, MD, MRCP, Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust, Princes Rd, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 6QG, United Kingdom. drpappachan@yahoo.co.in
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Diabetes. Jun 15, 2013; 4(3): 51-63 Published online Jun 15, 2013. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v4.i3.51
Gastrointestinal complications of diabetes mellitus
Babu Krishnan, Shithu Babu, Jessica Walker, Adrian B Walker, Joseph M Pappachan
Babu Krishnan, Department of Gastroenterology, University College Hospital, London NW1 2BU, United Kingdom
Shithu Babu, Department of Medicine, Watford General Hospital, London WD18 0HB, United Kingdom
Jessica Walker, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom
Adrian B Walker, Joseph M Pappachan, Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 6QG, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Krishnan B and Pappachan JM conceived the idea; Krishnan B, Babu S and Pappachan JM wrote the initial draft of the paper; all authors contributed to literature search and final preparation of the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Dr. Joseph M Pappachan, MD, MRCP, Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust, Princes Rd, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 6QG, United Kingdom. drpappachan@yahoo.co.in
Telephone: +44-1782-715444 Fax: +44-1782-674650
Received: March 5, 2013 Revised: April 14, 2013 Accepted: April 18, 2013 Published online: June 15, 2013
Core Tip
Core tip: Although relatively common, gastrointestinal (GI) complications of diabetes mellitus are under-recognized by most physicians. Early identification and prompt management of GI complications are of paramount importance as they are associated with significant morbidity. Common GI complications are esophageal dysmotility, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, gastroparesis, enteropathy, non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and glycogenic hepatopathy. Damage to the myenteric neurons due to longstanding diabetes causes esophageal, gastric and enteric disease. NAFLD is a hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome and is commonly seen in type 2 diabetes while glycogenic hepatopathy is due to poor glycemic control in type 1 diabetes. Clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, diagnostic evaluation and management of GI complications of diabetes are discussed in this article.
