Department of Tumor Pathology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu 431-3192, Japan.
World J Gastroenterol. 2013 Jan 14;19(2):161-4. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i2.161.
Even though the small intestine occupies a major portion of the abdominal space and is essential for life, in most pathology textbooks any chapter on small intestinal diseases, especially in human beings, is typically shorter than those for other gastrointestinal organs. Clinical and experimental investigations of the small intestine in various clinical situations, such as nutrition management, obesity interventions, and emergency care, have elucidated several important biological problems associated with the small intestine, the last frontier of gastroenterology. In this issue, a review by Professor Basson and his team at Michigan State University sheds light on the changes in the human small intestine under various conditions based on their clinical and surgical experience. With the advent of recent innovations in enteroscopy, a form of endoscopy used to examine deep within the small intestine, the issue that they highlighted, i.e., mucosal adaptation and atrophy of the human small intestine, has emerged as a major and manageable challenge for gastroenterologists in general, including the readers of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
尽管小肠占据了腹部的主要空间，对生命至关重要，但在大多数病理学教科书中，关于小肠疾病的章节，尤其是在人类中，通常比其他胃肠道器官的章节要短。在各种临床情况下，如营养管理、肥胖干预和急救护理，对小肠的临床和实验研究已经阐明了与小肠相关的几个重要生物学问题，小肠是胃肠病学的最后一个前沿领域。在本期中，密歇根州立大学的 Basson 教授及其团队的一篇综述，根据他们的临床和手术经验，阐述了人类小肠在各种条件下的变化。随着内镜检查的一种新形式——小肠镜的出现，用于检查小肠深部的黏膜适应性和萎缩等问题，已经成为一般胃肠病学家，包括《世界胃肠病学杂志》读者的一个主要且可管理的挑战。
