Dr. Samuel K. Wirtschafter M.D.

What is Gastroenteritis?Gastroenteritis refers to an infection of the gastrointestinal tract, and leads to inflammation of the stomach and the intestines. This irritation, characterized by nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, is also known as the stomach flu. The stomach flu entails severe diarrhea,...

Gastric bypass surgery has become a popular weight loss procedure, and can be considered the gold standard for weight loss surgeries. However, the cost of gastric bypass surgery is sky-high, and this is one of most common factors taken into consideration ahead of surgery.In the normal digestive...

Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), the major class of heartburn drugs, may result in fractures of the hip in postmenopausal women with a history of smoking. The results of the study, published in the journal BMJ, shows that the risk of a hip fracture is not lowered even after stopping...

Have you ever experienced an episode of diverticulitis? It's certainly an unpleasant experience. It does not matter whether you are one of those that has not experienced it or one of those that has had a bad case of diverticulitis; you definitely don’t want to experience it anytime soon. Luckily...

What is a persistent cough?It can be annoying to have a cough that lasts for more than a couple of weeks. A cough is considered chronic or persistent if it does not go away after four weeks in children and eight weeks in adults. However, most persistent coughs are due to colds, flu, infection, or...

Abdominal bloating can affect your looks and cause considerable discomfort. But according to experts, abdominal bloating can be controlled and avoided easily. Abdominal bloating does not refer to the extra pounds of fat stored in the abdomen, but the temporary distension that affects from...