NEUROGASTROENTEROLOGY AND MOTILITY 

Minerva Gastroenterologica e Dietologica 2009 September;55(3):345-77

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Treatment of gastric emptying delay

Bortolotti M. ✉

Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University of Bologna Bologna, Italy

Gastric emptying delay is a rather frequent occurrence that may reveal itself with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, from slight dyspeptic symptoms up to alimentary vomiting. Once diagnosed with appropriate examinations, the treatment of this condition may be performed with a variety of means proportionate to the severity of the disease. In the first line there are dietetic measures and pharmacologic aids, that vary from currently available prokinetics drugs, drugs created for other therapeutical purposes, that reveal prokinetic properties, to new classes of prokinetics currently under clinical investigation or clinical trials. In more severe cases of gastroparesis, with vomiting and abdominal pain refractory to prokinetic therapy, other pharmacologic measures can be utilized, such as antiemetic and analgesic drugs. If the medical therapy is insufficient, endoscopic and surgical procedures are available, from the widening of the pyloric ring with botulinum toxin infiltrations or pneumatic dilatation, to the employment of various techniques of gastric electrical stimulation, up to partial or total gastric resection, when any other treatment fails and the patient is kept alive only with partial or total parenteral nutrition.