Treatments for gastroparesis have been unsatisfactory. We describe a patient with gastroparesis who did not respond to a series of conventional prokinetic treatments. Finally, an antidepressant, mirtazapine, was administered, and the patient's symptoms and gastric emptying showed surprisingly rapid improvement. Therefore, we recommend mirtazapine as a treatment for gastroparesis refractory to c...

Mirtazapine is a noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mirtazapine on gastrointestinal motility in dogs, including solid gastric emptying, antral and small intestinal contractions, and small intestinal and colonic transit. Six dogs were implanted with two cannulas located at the duodenum and the ascending colon; another s...

BACKGROUND Postoperative adynamic bowel atony interferes with recovery following abdominal surgery. Prokinetic pharmacologic drugs are widely used to accelerate postoperative recovery. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the benefits and harms of systemic acting prokinetic drugs to treat postoperative adynamic ileus in patients undergoing abdominal surgery. SEARCH STRATEGY Trials were identified by comp...

BACKGROUND Rikkunshito is a traditional Japanese medicine that has been widely prescribed for patients with various gastrointestinal symptoms. Recently, the prokinetic effects of Rikkunshito in patients with a variety of diseases have attracted attention in Japan. The prokinetic effects of Rikkunshito are believed to result from an increase of active ghrelin, which is most abundant in the stoma...

I read with interest the article by Lewis et al. [1] who presents a review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the benefit and harms of prokinetics in patients receiving enteral nutrition. They used the Grading of recommendation, assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) method to assess the quality of evidence for various clinical outcomes including feeding...

Delayed gastrointestinal transit is common in patients with severe burn. Ghrelin is a potent prokinetic peptide. We aimed at testing the effect of ghrelin on burn-induced delayed gastrointestinal transit in rats. Gastric emptying (GE), intestinal transit (IT), and colonic transit (CT) studies were performed in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were randomized into two main groups as follows: sham ...

BACKGROUND Fumaria parviflora Linn. (Fumariaceae), is a small branched annual herb found in many parts of the world including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This study was designed to provide pharmacological basis for the medicinal use of Fumaria parviflora in gut motility disorders. METHODS The in-vivo prokinetic and laxative assays were conducted in mice. Isolated intestinal preparations (ileum...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Opioid induced bowel dysfunction (OIBD) is associated with decreased gastrointestinal (GI) propulsive activity due to intake of opioid analgesics. DA-9701, a novel prokinetic agent formulated with Pharbitis Semen and Corydalis Tuber has promising effects on GI motor function. Therefore, we aim to evaluate the prokinetic effects of DA-9701 in an OIBD model of guinea pig. METHOD...