ABSTRACT
Gastroparesis is a motility disorder of the stomach that is characterized by slowed emptying of gastric contents, in the absence of mechanical obstruction. Gastroparesis has phenotypic variability with age, gender, type of symptom onset, and severity of symptoms. Younger children with gastroparesis tend to present more with vomiting, a feeding disorder, and poor weight gain. Postinfectious or postviral gastroparesis is regarded as a subgroup of idiopathic gastroparesis and a host of viral agents have been implicated including rotavirus, Norwalk virus, and Epstein–Barr virus. In milder cases of gastroparesis there may not be any evident findings on clinical examination. Pathogenesis of diabetic gastroparesis is multifactorial and is the result of a neuromyopathy. Postsurgical gastroparesis is usually the result of vagus nerve trauma following upper gastrointestinal surgery as well as after chest surgery. Gastric emptying for solids is more representative of gastroparesis than liquid emptying. Gastric emptying of liquids is often preserved in gastroparesis.
