Digestive diseases and sciences
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Electrically stimulating the stomach to treat gastroparesis has been proposed by investigators for decades. With the development of techniques of implantable pacing devices and electrodes and promising preliminary results in chronic pacing studies, gastric electrical stimulation (GES) has received increasing attention recently among researchers and clinicians. A number of studies have been performed to investigate the effects of GES on gastric motility, gastric emptying, and gastrointestinal symptoms in both dogs and humans. ⋯ On the other hand, HFS has no effect on gastric emptying but is able to significantly reduce symptoms of nausea and vomiting in gastroparetic patients. GES has provided an exciting new advance in the treatment of gastroparesis and management of upper gastrointestinal symptoms. This paper will review the available studies of GES in the treatment of gastroparesis and current status of this field.