Stomach pacemaker can help treat stomach disorders, chronic vomiting

Washington, Mar 30 (ANI): Individuals suffering from acute stomach disorders can occasionally suffer from chronic vomiting. According to a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, this symptom can be treated with electrical impulses from a pacemaker in the stomach.

A new method enables patients who could benefit from this treatment to be identified, and electrical stimulation leads to reduced nausea and fewer days in hospital, shows the study.

Gastric electrical stimulation has previously been shown to be effective in most diabetics who suffer from severe vomiting due to the disease. New research shows that people with other severe stomach disorders could also benefit from this treatment.

27 patients were included in a study testing electrical stimulation of the stomach. 22 had fewer symptoms as a result of initial temporary stimulation, and 20 of these then had a permanent pacemaker surgically inserted into the stomach. Of the patients who responded well to temporary stimulation, 90 percent also had good results in a long-term follow-up of the surgically inserted pacemaker.

The treatment led to reduced nausea and vomiting. In another study of 16 patients, electrical stimulation led to fewer days in hospital in the year following treatment. Simple temporary stimulation through the skin can be used to identify the patients who could benefit from the treatment.

"We insert gastric electrodes into the patient under local anaesthesia through a small incision in the skin, and these are then connected to an external pacemaker," explains junior doctor tina Andersson, a doctoral student at the Department of Internal Medicine. "If the results are positive, we can be relatively certain that treatment with a surgically inserted pacemaker will ork for that patient. The next step is to insert a pacemaker using keyhole surgery." (ANI)