Gastroparesis

Medical Revising Author: Dennis Lee, MD
Medical Revising Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD

• What is gastroparesis?
• What are gastroparesis symptoms and signs?
• What causes gastroparesis? 
• How is gastroparesis diagnosed?
• How is gastroparesis treated?
• What is the prognosis (long-term outcome) for patients with gastroparesis?
• What's new in gastroparesis?
• Gastroparesis At A Glance

What is gastroparesis?

Gastroparesis means paralysis of the muscles of the stomach. Gastroparesis results in delayed emptying of food from the stomach into the small intestine.

The stomach is a hollow organ composed primarily of muscle that serves as a storage container for food. Food in the stomach is ground into tiny pieces by the constant churning that is generated by the contractions of the stomach's muscles. Once the food has been adequately ground, it slowly is emptied from the stomach into the intestine in a metered fashion. Only food ground into small particles can be emptied from the stomach in a normal fashion, and smaller particles are digested better in the intestine. Moreover, the metering process allows the emptied food to be well-mixed with the digestive juices of the intestine, pancreas, and liver (bile) and to be absorbed well from the intestine.

When the stomach's muscles are paralyzed, food is not thoroughly ground and does not empty into the intestine normally. Since the muscular mechanisms whereby ground, solid food and liquid food are emptied from the stomach are different, there may be delayed emptying of solid food (most common), solid and liquid food (less common), or liquid food alone (least common).

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