Gastroparesis is a gastric motility disorder affecting around 13.8 in 100,000 people in the UK. It is characterized by chronic and recurrent symptoms such as nausea and vomiting and the presence of delayed gastric emptying times in the absence of any mechanical obstruction. It can be divided into idiopathic or secondary to diseases such as diabetes, previous surgery, or drugs such as opioids. Diagnosis is based on the presence of symptoms and demonstration of delayed gastric emptying using validated techniques such as scintigraphy. These investigations should be performed by discontinuing any drug that may affect gastric motility and especially any opioid. Treatment is based on a small particle diet, drugs such as prokinetics, nutritional support, and surgical options only in cases that are unresponsive to medical treatments.

Watch Dr Maura Corsetti’s interview with Prof Anjan Dhar about her main talk on ‘Masterclass: Gastroparesis ’.

Biographies

Dr Maura Corsetti

Associate Professor in Gastroenterology, NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Nottingham.  Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.

Maura leads the Neurogastroenterology Unit and she is the referral consultant for functional disorders of upper and lower GI tract at the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre. She obtained her Specialization (2000) and PhD (2004) in Italy, where she worked for eight years as referral consultant for functional bowel disorders in one of the most important university hospitals in Milan, the San Raffaele University Hospital. She then moved to Belgium, where she also spent part of her PhD, to work in the lab of Prof Jan Tack as Senior Research Supervisor (2012-2016). She dedicated her professional carrier to the study of role of gut motility to the pathophysiology of symptoms of functional disorder. She has member of the Rome Foundation Board of Directors, Co-Chair of the Rome V Functional Bowel Disorders Committee and Editor in Chief of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (official journal of European and American Association of Neurogastroenterology and Motility). She is Chair of the BSG Neurogastroenterology Committee, ESNM representative at the UEG Scientific Committee and Post Graduate Teaching Course.

Prof Anjan Dhar

Professor Dhar is a Consultant Luminal Gastroenterologist at County Durham with research interests in IBD and Oesophageal Diseases. He is Chair of Education for the BSG and a Council Member. He has over 150 publications in peer reviewed journals.