Internal Medicine

Biography

Biography: Irene Sarosiek

Abstract

Gastroparesis (GP), which affects up to 10 million individuals in the United States, is characterized by the presence of chronic, often debilitating upper gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, early satiety, postprandial fullness, bloating and abdominal pain, while diagnosis is confirmed by documenting delayed emptying of the stomach. The majority of GP patients are idiopathic, whereas in 30% others it represents a serious complication of long-standing type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The past ten years have shown substantial progresses in our understanding of the pathophysiology of gastroparesis as well as its diagnostic tests. However, the pharmacological choices with FDA approved and investigational agents have been limited and often less than optimal. Moreover, in 50-60% of GP patients who are refractory to medical therapy, surgical implantation of gastric electrical stimulation (GES) system improves the symptoms, while addition of pyloroplasty accelerates rate of gastric emptying. Recently introduced concept of needleless transcutaneous electro-acupuncture (TEA) is shoving promising clinical results, while besides controlling symptoms; it improves quality of life in DMGP patients. In this talk, the standard diagnostic tests of GP, including scintigraphy and wireless motility capsule methodologies of gastric emptying test with pharmacological treatment options and their safety, as well as our recent findings on TEA, the surgical approaches of GES plus pyloroplasty and total gastrectomy will be discussed.