[PEDIATRIC GASTROENTEROLOGY: ORIGINS, PROBLEMS, AND PROSPECTS OF THE RESEARCH].

The nomenclature of digestive diseases in children was supplemented by the "new" diseases: of esophagus--gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Barrett's esophagus, Zenker's diverticulum; of stomach and duodenum--gastroduodenitis, peptic ulcer disease, polyps, ectopic pancreas in the stomach wall; of the intestine--jejunitis, ileocolitis, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, bacterial overgrowth syndrome in the small intestine; of biliary tract--cholelithiasis, gallbladder cholesterosis, anomalies of the biliary tract; of pancreas--acute and chronic pancreatitis, annular pancreas (2). The features of gastrointestinal diseases in children experiencing the action of factors, not always positively affecting the growing organism, were established. These features include: presence of allergic background; high level of neuro-autonomous and psycho-emotional changes in modern children, not only in schoolchildren, but even in preschoolers; polymorbidity or a combination (syntropy) of lesions of the digestive system; adverse outcomes of certain diseases as chronization, complications development, and as a consequence--a high risk of disability in children; "rejuvenation" of certain diseases of the digestive system (cholelithiasis, gallbladder cholesterosis, Crohn's disease), typical for adults. It is important to emphasize the clinical and social importance of gastroenterological diseases in childhood. Axiomatic is that the origins of many diseases of the digestive organs in adults lie in childhood. Early manifestation of certain diseases such as peptic ulcer disease, gluten enteropathy, Crohn's disease, and others, significantly impact the quality of life of sick children and their parents. It is worth to emphasize high costs of medical and prophylactic (tertiary prevention) activities using the drugs of latest generations. All this causes problems in both applied and scientific pediatric gastroenterology.

[Modern aspects of the prevention of diseases of the digestive system in children ].

The article reviews the modern aspects of the prevention of diseases of the digestive system in children. It analyzes the levels of prevention activities, starting with the first days of a child's life. Great value is given to healthy ways of parents' lives, in the future - of the children: monitoring the course of pregnancy, genetic counseling and prenatal diagnostics of the pathology of the fetus. Heredity plays an important role in the cause-significant factors of diseases of the digestive system, violations of the calendar of vaccination, etc. One of the bases of prevention is a staged treatment of diseases of the digestive system, the identification of risk factors that can cause an aggravation or a continuously-recurrent course. The selection of rehabilitation programmes and hospital replacement technologies to improve and maintain the quality of life of sick children were substantiated.

[Diagnostic algorithm of biliary tract diseases in children].

Biliary tract (BT) diseases occupy one of the first places among the gastrointestinal diseases in children. The term "biliary tract" includes the gallbladder and intra-and extrahepatic bile ducts. The structure of biliary tract diseases had a significant increase in metabolic and inflammatory diseases, functional disorders. According to this, purpose of this study was to propose algorithms for children examination with biliary tract diseases in outpatient and hospital phases. In this article, based on their own experience was described the features and significance of laboratory and instrumental methods in the diagnosis of biliary tract disease in children. It was shown that the diagnostic significance of intrascope research methods in the identification of bile-excreting system diseases in children.