Skip to reading
USMLE.Step1.GI Medical · USMLE

Gastrointestinal and hepatic — PUD, IBD, cirrhosis, viral hepatitis

Node 5 of 15 in USMLE

Objectives

  • Identify the key rules and §§ that apply to gastrointestinal and hepatic — pud, ibd, cirrhosis, viral hepatitis.
  • Apply the USMLE.Step1.GI knowledge element in a typical exam scenario.
  • Recognize common distractors and partial-credit answers.

Read

USMLE.Step1.GI

Gastrointestinal and hepatic — PUD, IBD, cirrhosis, viral hepatitis

Step 1 · Organ Systems GI / Hepatic

**Peptic ulcer disease:** H. pylori (most duodenal), NSAIDs (most gastric). Diagnose with urea breath test, stool antigen. Triple therapy: PPI + clarithromycin + amoxicillin × 14 days (or quadruple if clarithro resistance).

**IBD:** • **Crohn's** — skip lesions, transmural, anywhere mouth-to-anus (terminal ileum most), non-caseating granulomas, fistulas/strictures. • **UC** — continuous, rectum and colon only, mucosal/submucosal, crypt abscesses, toxic megacolon, PSC association (pANCA), cured by colectomy.

**Cirrhosis complications:** portal HTN (varices, splenomegaly, caput medusae, ascites), hepatic encephalopathy (NH₃, treat with lactulose + rifaximin), SBP (ascitic PMN ≥250, cefotaxime, prophylaxis with norfloxacin), hepatorenal syndrome, HCC (screening US + AFP q6mo).

**Viral hepatitis:** • **HAV** — fecal-oral, acute only. Vaccine (inactivated). • **HBV** — blood/sex/perinatal. HBsAg = infectious, anti-HBs = immune, HBcAb IgM = acute, HBcAb IgG = resolved or chronic. Treat chronic with entecavir or TDF/TAF. • **HCV** — blood (IVDU). ≥95% cure with 8-12 weeks direct-acting antivirals (sofosbuvir-velpatasvir, glecaprevir-pibrentasvir). • **HDV** — requires HBV coinfection. **HEV** — enteric, severe in pregnancy.

**Pancreatitis:** gallstones (most common), alcohol; lipase >3× ULN. Severe (Ranson/BISAP) — ICU, aggressive fluids, nutrition, imaging at 72 hr for necrosis. Antibiotics only for infected necrosis, not prophylactic.

**Colorectal cancer screening (USPSTF 2021):** start age 45. Colonoscopy q10 years, FIT annually, or stool DNA q3 years.

OpenStax A&P 2e Ch. 23 The Digestive System CDC Yellow Book — Viral Hepatitis

Check yourself

3 quick questions — no score kept, just formative feedback.

  1. Q1 · USMLE.Step1.CV

    A 62-year-old has chest pain radiating to the jaw and ST elevations in leads V2-V5. Door-to-balloon time guideline for primary PCI per ACC/AHA STEMI guidelines is:

    Answer choices
  2. Q2 · USMLE.Step1.Micro

    Per the CDC Pink Book, which vaccine is LIVE-ATTENUATED and contraindicated in pregnancy and severe immunocompromise?

    Answer choices
  3. Q3 · USMLE.Step1.Renal

    A patient with severe hyperkalemia (K+ 7.2) and peaked T waves on ECG. The first intervention to stabilize the cardiac membrane is:

    Answer choices

Tutor

Scoped to USMLE.Step1.GI .

  1. Ask questions about this passage. Answers cite the specific corpus chunk and regulation. The tutor will never reproduce real exam items.