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Enteric neuropathies: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

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The Enteric Nervous System

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((ANS,volume 891))

Abstract

Enteric neuropathy is a term indicating an impairment of the innervation supplying the gastrointestinal tract. The clinical phenotypes of the enteric neuropathies are the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of severe functional digestive diseases, such as intestinal pseudo-obstruction syndromes (e.g., chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction). Despite progress acquired over the years, the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to enteric neuropathies are still far from being elucidated and the therapeutic approaches to these patients are mainly supportive, rather than curative.The purpose of this chapter is to review the advancements that have been done in the knowledge of enteric neuropathies identified in adult patients (‘tomorrow’), going through where we currently are (‘today’) following a brief history of the major milestones on the pioneering discoveries in the field (‘yesterday’).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, St. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Via Massarenti 9, Bologna, Italy

    Roberto De Giorgio M.D., Ph.D., A.G.A.F., Francesca Bianco, Rocco Latorre, Giacomo Caio & Elena Bonora

  2. Centro di Ricerca Biomedica Applicata (C.R.B.A.), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Roberto De Giorgio M.D., Ph.D., A.G.A.F. & Rocco Latorre

  3. Department of Medical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Francesca Bianco & Paolo Clavenzani

Authors
  1. Roberto De Giorgio M.D., Ph.D., A.G.A.F.
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  2. Francesca Bianco
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  3. Rocco Latorre
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  4. Giacomo Caio
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  5. Paolo Clavenzani
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  6. Elena Bonora
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto De Giorgio M.D., Ph.D., A.G.A.F. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Discipline of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Stuart Brierley

  2. Department of Human Physiology, School of Medicine, Flinders University,, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Marcello Costa

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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De Giorgio, R., Bianco, F., Latorre, R., Caio, G., Clavenzani, P., Bonora, E. (2016). Enteric neuropathies: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. In: Brierley, S., Costa, M. (eds) The Enteric Nervous System. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 891. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27592-5_12

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