Question of The Week from Debbie in Houston: “I have gastroparesis and I am not responding to medication. My GI doctor recommended that I have pyloroplasty done. While I know this will not cure the gastroparesis, what other recommendations do you have to treat it? I...
“Impact of vagus nerve integrity testing on surgical management in patients with previous operations with potential risk of vagal injury” is a new study published in surgical endoscopy. The authors advocate vagus nerve function testing prior to revision Nissen fundoplication surgery to better select the...
Nelson from Houston emailed us this question: “I have been diagnosed with gastroparesis years after Nissen fundoplication surgery for GERD. Would any of these surgical procedures help me at this point. I barely leave the house for fear of needing a bathroom in an emergency”. Dear Nelson, I...
Jane is a pleasant 51-year-old female with history of idiopathic gastroparesis diagnosed in 2008. She underwent a subtotal gastrectomy with Billroth 2 gastrojejunostomy and insertion of feeding tube jejunostomy in 2009. Post-operatively the patient had difficulty tolerating per-oral diet for about 5 months. She was...
Superior mesenteric artery, SMA, syndrome is a rare disorder. Patients with SMA syndrome, like those with gastroparesis and GERD, present with epigastric pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting and early satiety as well as heartburn and food regurgitation. Symptoms are typically exacerbated by food intake. SMA syndrome is...
Andy sent us this question: “I was put on omeprazole 40 MG Feb 9th for stomach issues I was having. I had an endoscopy Feb 12th that should a lot of inflammation from where the esophagus dumps into the stomach to the intestines. I was...
Hello Dr. ELIAS DARIDO, Since 2006 my daughter (at that time her weight was about 55 kg) had gastroparesis (vomiting, epigastric pain, weight loss) and GERD grade II. Since that time, she received medical treatments in the form of proton pump inhibitor, prokinetics, antacids but she...
Nissen fundoplication with hiatal hernia repair is the most reliable and most effective treatment of GERD or acid reflux disease. The procedure is also very safe with less than 1% complication rate. Gastroparesis or delayed gastric emptying is a poorly understood medical disorder. Gastroparesis results...
I read with great interest the publication in the current issue Surgical Endoscopy by Lee Swanstrom titled “Laparoscopic pyloroplasty is a safe and effective first-line surgical therapy for refractory gastroparesis”. The study includes 177 patients collected from a prospective foregut surgery database. 133 of those...
Gastroparesis is a chronic motility disorder affecting the stomach and duodenum and characterized by delayed gastric emptying in the absence of mechanical obstruction. Patients with gastroparesis complain of bloating, nausea, vomiting, pain and heartburn. Gastroparesis may cause acid reflux since gastric emptying is impaired. Furthermore,...