Principal Investigator: Aziz Aadam, MD Gastroparesis is a debilitating condition that can cause persistent nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain due to delayed stomach (gastric) emptying. The inability to eat or drink can lead to malnutrition and reduced quality of life. Current treatments are limited in both effectiveness and durability. A minimally invasive endoscopic procedure called G-POEM has recently shown promise in improving spasms of the sphincter muscle that prevent proper gastric emptying. G-POEM involves cutting this smooth band of muscle—that connects the stomach to the small intestine—to prevent further spasms and to allow the stomach to empty. Dr. Cai hopes to identify which gastroparesis patients would most likely benefit from this treatment using two novel methods: EndoFLIP, a probe that measures sphincter flexibility and antroduodenal manometry (ADM), a catheter that measures pressures throughout the upper gastrointestinal tract. Her team will look for specific EndoFLIP and ADM metrics that can be used to more effectively select patients for and predict improvement after...
Principal Investigator: Aziz Aadam, MD; Co-Principal Investigator: Kevin Liu, MD Gastroparesis is a condition when the stomach does not empty correctly due to lack of stomach muscle coordination. Many patients with chronic gastroparesis experience symptoms ranging from persistent nausea and vomiting to the inability to eat or drink. Lacking effective treatment options, patients with gastroparesis are at risk for inadequate nutrition and repeated hospitalizations. Endoscopic targeted therapies including placement of a tube to allow the stomach to empty into the small intestine (transpyloric stent) and G-POEM, an advanced minimally invasive procedure to cut the sphincter muscle in the pylorus, have recently shown promise by improving gastric emptying for patients. The Aadam team intends to examine whether patients who improve with transpyloric stenting, which provides temporary relief, will also demonstrate improvement with G-POEM, which can provide a more durable, long-lasting solution. Northwestern is one of the few centers in the nation performing G-POEM and has one of the highest volumes for both advanced endoscopic therapies. This study offers great potential for significantly impacting this patient...
