Upper Respiratory Tract Infections Tips

A hot summer s day may just be the perfect excuse to turn the air conditioning at full blast and gorge on junk food like a plate of Golgapas and samosas, followed by a bottle of chilled soft drink.

Hold that thought! The number of people seeking treatment for various gastrointestinal (GI) infections, i.e stomach infection, rise by approximately 40% during the peak summer. One of the major reasons attributed to GI infections is excessive consumption of junk and contaminated food. Add deh...more

Smoking can have adverse effects on your health that may result in a number of diseases, and also can degrade the overall health condition. Thus, every packet of cigarette comes with the warning Smoking is injurious to health . Yet, for those who are habituated to it, it can be extremely difficult to heed the caution and quit.

If you are one of those smokers contemplating quitting, here are some of the compelling reasons to embark on the road to good health immediately. Read on to know...more

Gastrointestinal Disorders Symptoms -

a. Dysphagia: It means difficulty in swallowing. Dysphagia is due to problems in the brain or food pipe. The causes of dysphagia are a stroke, oesophagal web or stricture, oesophagal growth or cancer, motility problems such as Achalasia cardia. Each disorder requires a highly specific diagnosis and treatment. It may vary from stricture dilatation by rigid dilators or balloon dilatation for achalasia cardia. Peroral endoscopic myotomy, POEM is a new...more

A cough is probably one of the most common respiratory diseases that people suffer from. In most cases, it is nothing to worry about and can be cured with cough suppressants and salt water gargles. However, coughing of blood is a serious problem. The coughing up of blood that originates from below the level of the larynx is known as hemoptysis. This can vary in terms of severity depending on the amount of blood being expelled. This disease is a common condition, but on average, less than 5% of h...more

Below are some most common types of gastrointestinal cancers, know more -

1. Esophagus cancer (cancer of food pipe): Cancer of food pipe presents as difficulty in swallowing food (Dysphagia) and is usually seen in elderly patients. Gastroenterologists will perform Endoscopy to look for any growth or cancer. High-resolution endoscopy with Narrowband imaging helps in detection of Superficial early squamous cell cancer (SESCC) of esophagus. Biopsies are taken for microscopic evaluation. T...more

In recent years there has been a rise in gastrointestinal disease due to lifestyle changes. Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver, cancer of colon, liver and pancreas have been affecting the young and the elderly equally.

The advancement of medical science has given rise to a series of laparoscopic surgeries relating to gastrointestinal diseases. These surgeries are minimally invasive compared to open surgeries. Let s have a ...more

The respiratory system, through which air enters the body, is prone to disorders, and most of them are infections. Micro-organisms thrive in the air around us and can gain easy access to the system through the air that we inhale. Therefore, respiratory issues are very common, but also not always a cause for concern. Most respiratory disorders would have common symptoms including coughing, chest pain, sputum production with varying features, shortness of breath, wheezing, etc.

Read on to...more

Minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery, also identified as laparoscopic surgery or hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS), deals with minimally invasive methods where only one small keyhole incision is made in the abdomen in order to treat diseases originating from the gastrointestinal tract. This is, however, in contrast to traditional modes of open surgery, which generally work on the colon or on other parts of the intestine. These keyhole incisions are only about 5mm to 10mm in size a...more

Bronchial asthma is a medical condition. It happens when the airways of your lungs swell up and become narrow. This limits the amount of air that can pass through the passages and this leads to respiratory distress. Asthma can affect anyone and usually, it starts from childhood.

What are the Symptoms of Bronchial Asthma?
Some common symptoms of bronchial asthma are-

Wheezing and breathlessness
Tightness of the chest
Frequent bouts of coughing which are more co...more

Pulmonary Function Tests or PFTs are a set of tests that are used to determine, measure or observe the functioning of the lungs. The most common pulmonary function tests used are spirometry, gas diffusion, and lung plethysmography.

Highlights of pulmonary function tests

A spirometry test is used to measure the amount of air inhaled and exhaled. It also measures the amount of time taken to complete a respiration cycle.
Lung plethysmography measures the amount of air in the l...more