The paracetamol (acetaminophen) absorption test as a simple bedside test BVD-523 research buy is limited to evaluation of the emptying of liquids and is not recommended as a diagnostic tool as its accuracy is variable at best.32 Swallowed capsule telemetry (“SmartPill”) employs an indigestible capsule that has the capacity to measure intraluminal pH and pressure as the capsule travels through the digestive

tract to determine the gastric emptying rate. The pressure measurements also provide information about the motor function of the stomach, small intestine and colon.33 This method has been reported to correlate relatively well with scintigraphy with good sensitivity (82%) and specificity (83%), but has not been used widely. Emptying of the capsule presumably usually occurs after that of digestible meal components. Electrogastrography measures the frequency of the gastric slow wave (∼3 cycles/min) using surface electrodes attached to the skin of the epigastrium.34 While it is clear that abnormalities in gastric electrical activity, particularly tachygastria, occur frequently in diabetic gastroparesis and may be induced by hyperglycemia,35 the relationship AZD2281 research buy is not sufficiently strong to be of diagnostic value. Antropyloroduodenal manometry, using a water-perfused or solid-state catheter to measure intraluminal pressures in the stomach, pylorus, and small intestine, is only

available in a few centres and remains primarily a research tool. The pathogenesis of diabetic gastroparesis is now recognized to be complex and multifactorial; there has been recent awareness of defects in various interacting cell types, in addition to the more established roles of autonomic neuropathy and acute hyperglycemia. The similarity in gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by surgically vagotomised MRIP patients and patients with longstanding diabetes led to the initial concept that irreversible vagal damage underlies disordered gastric emptying in diabetes.1 Due to the difficulties of assessing gastrointestinal autonomic function directly, evaluation of cardiovascular autonomic function has been employed widely as a

surrogate marker for the function of the abdominal vagus.36 Though the initial2,14 and subsequent22 studies established that the prevalence of disordered gastric emptying is higher in those patients with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy, the relationship between disordered gastric emptying and abnormal cardiovascular autonomic function is relatively weak 16,37 Diabetic gastroparesis is associated with heterogeneous motor dysfunctions, including “incoordination” of the motor activity of the proximal stomach, antrum, pylorus and duodenum.38 Data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Gastroparesis Clinical Research Consortium, based in the USA, have contributed substantially to knowledge of the role of cellular defects in the pathogenesis of gastroparesis.