Quality Reports - Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Center
Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome
Why we measure it - Cyclic vomiting syndrome is one of the most unrecognized and misdiagnosed childhood diseases. It is marked by severe, recurrent attacks of vomiting in a child who is otherwise completely healthy for weeks or even months at a time before and after the attacks. Over the course of 24 to 48 hours, a child may have more than 30 vomiting episodes, occurring every 10 minutes at its peak. This causes many associated problems including dehydration, missed school days, anxiety and depression.
What this means - Children with cyclic vomiting syndrome seen in our program had their frequency of vomiting decrease 47.9 percent and their missed school days decrease 69 percent at the time of their follow-up visits.
About the data - The data was obtained from medical chart reviews of 72 patients at their first visits and their follow-up visits.
Related dimensions of care:
  
What we're doing to provide the best care:
- B Li, MD, leads the most comprehensive Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Program in the world. Dr Li has seen more than 700 cyclic vomiting cases in his career, more than twice the number of any other specialist in the United States.
- We ask families to write down their child's medical history of vomiting occurrences and treatments, which we review in detail before the child's first visit. Many times parents offer pertinent information we may not have thought to ask and provide an invaluable point of view as to the severity and affect of the disease on their child. We underline important points and sometimes conduct research based on the patient's story before our first meeting.
- We meet with each patient as a interdisciplinary team to address all of a child's needs. Our core team of specialists include a pediatric gastroenterologist, nurse coordinator, psychologist and nurse practitioner with specialized training in migraine headaches, which is thought to be associated with cyclic vomiting. We include other Children's Hospital specialists as needed including neurologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, and ear, nose and throat surgeons.
- About 70 percent of our patients show improvement after their first consultation without medication.
- We provide a nurse clinician who helps schedule appointments with other specialties if needed, coordinate procedures and arrange family accommodations.
- We participated in the national consensus guidelines taskforce under the Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology and conduct research to further understand cyclic vomiting syndrome, potential new treatments, genetic markers that may increase the risk of cyclic vomiting syndrome, and the effect of the disease on patients' physical and mental health.
- We provide a gradual transition from pediatric to adult care as our patients grow older and more independent.
Patients/Families:
- Be an advocate for your child. Provide any information about your child that may be helpful to staff.
- Ask questions if you don't understand the plan of care or if you are not sure how to care for your child at home.
- Attend any and all follow-up appointments.
If you have questions about this data or information, e-mail us or call (414) 266-6726.
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