title: Gastrointestinal motility disorders: an update.
abstract: Gastrointestinal motility disorders encompass a wide array of signs and symptoms that can occur anywhere throughout the luminal gastrointestinal tract. Motility disorders are often chronic in nature and dramatically affect patients' quality of life. These prevalent disorders cause a tremendous impact both to the individual patient and to society as a whole. Significant progress has been made over the last 5 years in understanding the etiology and pathophysiology of gastrointestinal motility disorders. This clinical update will focus on seven of the most common gastrointestinal motility disorders (achalasia, non-achalasia esophageal motility disorders, dyspepsia, gastroparesis, chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic constipation) with an emphasis on current treatment options and new therapeutic modalities.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA. brian.lacy@hitchcock.org
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Lacy
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weiser
mesh_terms: D003248:Constipation / Q000503:physiopathology; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000503:physiopathology; D004931:Esophageal Achalasia / Q000503:physiopathology; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007418:Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction / Q000503:physiopathology; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index