Health Newsfeed # 1341
TAMING GASTROPARESIS
Up to 75 per cent of people with diabetes also suffer from gastroparesis. It’s the failure of
the stomach to empty after a meal.
The pyloric muscle – the door that swings open to release the
contents of the stomach, won’t relax. The result is bloating, pain, and sometimes a trip to the
hospital. Gastroparesis hasn’t been easy to treat but a new drug on the block just might make a
difference: Viagra. The same molecular problem that underlies impotence is also active in
gastroparesis. Experiments with mice have shown that Viagra can reverse gastroparesis in
diabetic mice. Dr. Christopher Ferris led the study.
It’s our hope that if Viagra or other drugs can be used to allow diabetics to have regular
stomach-emptying, in a way that improves their long term glucose control, that this would help
avoid the complications of diabetes, that include kidney disease, and the numbness and
tingling that develops in their arms and feet, and many of the other complications that they have.
Dr. Ferris says the next step is to test Viagra as a treatment for gastroparesis in humans.
At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, I'm Tom Haederle reporting.
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