General Practitioners

• Osteoporosis
• Arthritis
• Medical Weight Loss
  Eosinophilic esophagitis (EE) is a disease characterized by swelling of the esophagus (the part of the body connecting the throat and the stomach) caused by an allergic white blood cell, the eosinophil. Symptoms of EE can range from severe heartburn, difficulty swallowing, food impaction in the esophagus, nausea, vomiting and weight loss. There appears to be some age-related differences in symptoms, with younger children having more symptoms of weight loss, and older children and adults having food impaction and difficulty swallowing.
• Nutritional Counseling
• Primary Care
  We recognize the need for a definite understanding between you and your physician concerning health care and the financial arrangements for this medical care. Our commitment is to provide the very best health care to our patients while recognizing the need to limit services to only those that are necessary. The responsibility for payment of fees for these services is the direct obligation of the patient. Any financial payment you may receive from private insurance or government agencies is a matter strictly between you and the insurance carriers or government agencies. Our physicians are participating Medicare physicians and do accept assignment on Medicare claims; however, any deductible, co-payment, or percentage not paid by Medicare or other carrier is your responsibility. It is also your responsibility to know if your insurance has specific rules or regulations, such as the need for referrals from primary care physicians, pre-certification, limits on outpatient charges, specific physicians and/or hospitals to use. You should be knowledgeable of any deductible, co-pay and / or percentage for which you are responsible. The same responsibility exists for HMOs or PPOs in which our physicians participate. Our receptionists and insurance clerks will assist you with filing your insurance.
• Family Practice
• High Cholesterol
• Emergency Care
  Our patients are seen by appointments, thus allowing more convenience to the patient and the opportunity for better care. For appointments involving endoscopic procedures requiring sedation, you will be asked to arrange for someone to drive you home after your appointment, since you cannot legally drive or operate machinery. We strive to adhere to the appointment schedule; however, emergencies do occur and they must take precedence, causing some delay. We apologize in advance and ask that you try to appreciate that any one of us may some day be the one requiring emergency care.
• Colonoscopy
  Colonoscopy (Miralax and Gatorade Ice) prep instructions and HalfLytely prep instructions are provided below in Adobe Reader® format. Click on either icon to download the appropriate instruction sheet, print and use as a reference.
• Constipation
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  Her treatment philosophy is to empower her patients with the knowledge needed to successfully traverse through and ultimately manage their own disease processes. Her special interests include management of irritable bowel syndrome and other functional gastrointestinal disorders with the use of motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral techniques.
• Diarrhea

Gynecologists

• Pregnancy
• Labor and Delivery
  Celiac disease is a genetic disease, meaning that it runs in families. Sometimes the disease is triggered--or becomes active for the first time--after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.

Internists

• Internal Medicine
  Dr. Bartalos was born and raised in Kansas City. After attending undergraduate college at DePauw University, Dr. Bartalos went to Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences for his medical degree. He then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at The University of Missouri and went on to finish his fellowship in Gastroenterology. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.
• Gastroenterology
  Summit Gastroenterology offers non-surgical hemorrhoid removal in our office. We use a small, gentle, single-use suction device to minimize discomfort and complications. Our physician will place a tiny rubber band around the internal hemorrhoid to cut off its blood supply. The hemorrhoid then shrinks and falls off within a day or so, usually without you noticing.
• Kidney Stones
  Other complications associated with Crohn's disease include arthritis, skin problems, inflammation in the eyes or mouth, kidney stones, gallstones, or other diseases of the liver and biliary system. Some of these problems resolve during treatment for disease in the digestive system, but some must be treated separately.
• Colon Cancer
  Your doctor has ordered a Flexible Sigmoidoscopy for you. This examination is an important tool in the prevention and early detection of colon cancer and the diagnosis of other colon diseases.
• Endoscopy
  Upper GI Endoscopy, also called EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy), is a visual examination of the upper intestinal tract using a lighted video endoscope. The upper gastrointestinal tract begins at the mouth and continues with the esophagus, stomach and then duodenum which is the first portion of the small intestine.
• Lung Cancer
  When combined with fine-needle aspiration, EUS is a minimally invasive, state-of-the-art alternative to exploratory surgery to obtain tissue samples (biopsies) from abdominal organs and lymph nodes. Physicians also use EUS to guide pseudocyst drainage, injections, and pain managing treatments.

Neurologists

• Multiple Sclerosis

Psychiatrists

• Depression

Endocrinologist

• Diabetes Care
• Thyroid
  A physical exam may include a rectal exam with a gloved, lubricated finger to evaluate the tone of the muscle that closes off the anus (anal sphincter) and to detect tenderness, obstruction, or blood. In some cases, blood and thyroid tests may be necessary to look for thyroid disease and serum calcium or to rule out inflammatory, neoplastic, metabolic, and other systemic disorders.

Radiologist

• Ultrasound
  Once sleepy, the special endoscope will be inserted and the procedure started. Because of the sedation, you will only feel minimal discomfort, if any, during the entire procedure. Everything will be done to help you be as comfortable as possible throughout the entire procedure. The physician will observe the inside of your GI tract on a TV monitor and the ultrasound image on a separate screen. Depending on the abnormality (if any) identified, your doctor may elect to collect some tissue samples during the procedure. This can be done with a biopsy forceps or via the fine needle aspiration (FNA) technique. If a fluid collection is seen, it can be suctioned through the scope, and the fluid is sent for analysis. Occasionally, if there is a large cyst in the pancreas that needs drainage, your doctor may place a stent through the stomach or small bowel into the pancreatic cyst. This process is called a cyst-gastrostomy or a cyst-duodenostomy. The entire procedure generally takes 30 to 90 minutes depending on the complexity and whether fine needle aspiration (FNA) is performed.
• MRI
  The capsule contains a small magnet, and patients should not have an MRI study within 30 days of undergoing the Bravo pH test.
• X-Rays
• Computed Tomography
  Once colon cancer has been established, the patient will need to be evaluated for the extent of the disease and its location. The patient will usually need a Colonoscopy, CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis, routine blood work, a CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) and surgery.
• Chemotherapy
  Severe illness - people who have a weakened immune system as a result of an underlying medical condition or a treatment such as chemotherapy are at increased risk of becoming infected with C. Difficile, especially during a hospitalization.
• Radiation Therapy
  Treatment of a malignant stricture of the esophagus is available but can often be disappointing. If the malignancy is determined to be small and localized, without any spread beyond the esophagus, then a surgical repair is often opted for and may, on rare occasion cure the cancer. If the tumor is not curable, then often, palliative treatments are employed. These include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, esophageal dilation, laser treatments, injections, tumor probes or placement of an esophageal stent (wire mesh tube) to keep the esophagus open.

Plastic Surgeons

• Botox
  Treatments for achalasia include oral medications, dilation or stretching of the lower esophageal sphincter, and surgery to cut the sphincter. A newer approach involves injection of botulinum toxin (Botox) into the sphincter to loosen the muscle.
• Laparoscopic Surgery
  Because the abdominal muscles are not cut during laparoscopic surgery, patients have less pain and fewer complications than they would have had after surgery using a large incision across the abdomen. Recovery usually involves only one night in the hospital, followed by several days of restricted activity at home.

Dermatologists

• Cyst
• Ulcer
  In the acute phase, there may be pain or aggravation in the upper abdomen, nausea, vomiting. In the chronic phase, the pain may be dull and there may be loss of appetite with early satiety. Very often, there are no symptoms at all. If pain is severe, there may be an ulcer as well as gastritis.
• Lesions
  The gastroenterologist is visualizing the colon as the colonoscope is passed through the entire colon, and in this regard complete evaluation of the colon lining is performed. Often times the colonoscopy is performed for screening purposes, that is, the patient has no GI symptoms or there may be symptoms present such as rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, change in bowel habits, etc. that are the reason for the examination. If during the examination, a polyp is detected this is removed. A colon polyp is a benign growth that over time can become cancerous, and these can generally be removed at the time of colonoscopy to prevent a cancer from developing. Of course colon cancer is looked for as well, and if a colon cancer is detected early it may be entirely curable – this is often the reason for colonoscopy screenings. Other findings could include diverticulosis (pockets along the intestinal wall), bleeding lesions or colitis such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.
• Rashes

Allergists

• Allergies
  Corticosteroids are used to treat EE. Steroids may be used as pills, such as prednisone, or as a topical therapy, such as using inhaled steroids (Flonase, for example) typically used for asthma, except that the medication is swallowed, not inhaled. This results in the delivery of the medication directly to the esophagus. This treatment is typically eight weeks long. Medications for GERD are also given to patients with EE. Once EE is diagnosed and treated, a consultation with an allergist will be obtained and an extensive allergy testing performed, including looking for food allergies and environmental allergies, such as those listed above.