Acupuncture Treatment for Gastroparesis

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Background:

Gastroparesis is a digestive disorder in which the motility of the stomach is either abnormal or absent. Symptoms include, but are not limited to, a feeling of fullness after only a few bites of food, bloating, excessive belching, and nausea. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used to treat a wide variety of visceral disorders.

Objective:

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of TCM in treating patients with gastroparesis.

Design, Setting, and Patient:

Single case (a 61-year-old woman with a 2-year history of gastroparesis) presented to Southern California University Health Center (Whittier, CA) in June 2005. She was followed up through Fall 2005.

Intervention:

The treatment protocol for her digestive disorder included acupuncture treatment twice a week on Ren 14 and ST 36, and the administration of traditional Chinese herbal formula Xiao Ban Xia Jia Fu Ling Tang.

Main Outcome Measures:

Gastric emptying test and patient report of symptoms.

Results:

The patient reported significant improvement in symptomatic relief after acupuncture and herbal treatments within 5 visits. The frequency of nausea was significantly diminished by the fourth visit. Energy levels, emotional symptoms, constipation, and abdominal distention were improved over the course of treatment. Before treatment, gastric emptying was 25% at 2 hours and 69% at 4 hours. After treatment, gastric emptying was 84% at 2 hours and 100% at 4 hours.

Conclusions:

Acupuncture and herbal treatment together relieved this patient of gastroparesis symptoms and allowed her to experience an enhanced quality of life. This is an area of active investigation because current therapy is suboptimal and existing treatments have not been well studied. Evidence-based investigation is required to have better approaches to this challenging condition.