Diagnosis & Treatment

Diagnosis of Gastroparesis

The most common way to diagnose gastroparesis is:

• Doctors must rule out other causes of the symptoms like a bowel obstruction, sphincter of Oddi dysfunction, Celiac Sprue, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. After doctors have determined that nothing else is the cause of the problem, they should perform a gastric emptying test, the most popular of which is a Scintigraphy.
• Nuclear Scintigraphy usually involves eating an egg meal made with a nuclear isotope. This isotope is followed by the technicians to see how much of the egg meal empties over a four-hour period. A percentage is then assigned to the amount that is pushed through the stomach over the four hours. Anything that is less than 90% emptying over four hours is considered positive for gastroparesis.

Treatment of Gastroparesis

There is no cure for gastroparesis but there are treatment options that can control the symptoms of chronic vomiting and nausea. Often, multiple therapies are used in combination.

Treatment options include:

• Diet Modification
• Prokinetic or Antiemetic Drugs
• Enterra Therapy
• Enteral Nutrition
• Gastrectomy