Motility News

SAN DIEGO — The international, nonprofit Rome Foundation revealed the fourth edition of its diagnostic criteria for functional GI disorders at Digestive Disease Week, which provides a new definition for functional GI disorders and includes new adult and pediatric diagnoses and diagnostic changes for irritable bowel syndrome.

The AGA has issued a Technology Coverage Statement on minimally invasive surgical options for GERD, recommending that transoral fundoplication should be covered and reimbursed for appropriate patients.

Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus is, so far, the first and only medical center to approve of and offer patients with fecal incontinence a new breakthrough treatment, according to a press release.

SAN DIEGO — Electrical stimulation therapy of the lower esophageal sphincter significantly improved esophageal acid exposure, GERD symptoms, PPI use and quality of life in patients with GERD partially responsive to PPIs, according to 1-year results from a multicenter trial presented at DDW 2016. The treatment was also found to be safe and well tolerated.

The FDA issued a drug safety communication stating that serious adverse cardiac events, some leading to death, can occur after taking high doses of loperamide, a diarrhea drug.

SAN DIEGO — In this exclusive video from DDW 2016, Mark D. Noar, MD, director of the Heartburn and Reflux Study Center in Baltimore, discusses new data showing that radiofrequency energy delivery to the lower esophageal sphincter with the Stretta procedure is comparably effective in GERD patients who are obese, those who have had prior surgery, and those with laryngopharyngeal reflux, or LPR.

SAN DIEGO — Two phase 3 trials confirmed the safety and efficacy of naldemedine for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in patients with chronic noncancer pain, according to a presenter at DDW 2016.

SAN DIEGO — In this exclusive video from DDW 2016, Lauren B. Gerson, MD, from California Pacific Medical Center and University of California San Francisco, discusses the results of a meta-analysis that showed transoral incisionless fundoplication, or TIF, is an effective treatment for GERD.

T lymphocyte-predominant esophageal inflammation and basal cell and papillary hyperplasia without loss of surface cells was associated with proton pump inhibitor cessation among patients who had successfully treated their severe reflux esophagitis with proton pump inhibitors, according to the results of a preliminary study published in JAMA. These findings suggest the pathogenesis of reflux esophagitis may be caused by inflammatory cytokines rather than chemical injury.

Fiber supplementation is moderately effective for treating chronic idiopathic constipation, but also causes moderate gastrointestinal side effects, according to the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis.