Patients and physicians with questions about digestive diseases can turn for answers to the newly launched Johns Hopkins Gastroenterology and Hepatology Resource Center at www.hopkins-gi.org.

"We aim to provide the finest quality, most comprehensive and highly interactive resource for patients and physicians searching for information on digestive diseases," says Anthony N. Kalloo, associate professor of gastroenterology and director of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Resource Center.

More than 20 faculty physicians contribute to the Web site. These multispecialty physicians include gastroenterologists, hepatologists, surgeons, radiologists and pathologists who are actively involved in the care of patients with digestive diseases, including hepatitis B, Crohn's disease, swallowing disorders and colon cancer.

"The site includes more than 2,000 Web pages and approximately 1,000 original medical illustrations, X-ray images, endoscopic photographs and examples of patient pathology," Kalloo says. "Enhancements, including animations, serve to create a better understanding of digestive diseases, and we've compiled relevant abstracts of the most current medical journal articles so visitors can stay up-to-date in this field of medicine."

The resource center also includes translations in Spanish, Chinese and Japanese designed to reach a rapidly growing international audience of health professionals and patients seeking assistance in resolving tough digestive-disease questions.

For readers with limited medical background, the Web site provides a user-friendly glossary of more than 1,000 words.

Of particular interest to busy physicians, according to Kalloo, is the use of cutting-edge technology to deliver continuing medical education, CME Anytime, available on the desktop and through PDA-device downloads. It is designed to be a hassle-free and time-saving method for obtaining CME credits, with regularly updated course material in gastroenterological subspecialties, he said.

The latest Johns Hopkins basic and clinical research and the Gastroenterology Division's newsletter, InsideTract, also are available on the Web site.