Gastric electrical stimulation for gastroparesis: A goal greatly pursued, but not yet attained

Figure 6 Two ambulatory 24-h gastroduodenal recordings (A and B) carried out on two separate days in a patient with apparently refractory gastroparesis by means of a probe with 5 miniaturized electronic pressure transducers, 5 cm apart: one in the corpus (C), two in the antrum (A1 and A2) and two in the duodenum (D1 and D2). On the first day (A) the recording was carried out without drug administration and on the second day (B) with clarithromycin (CLA) administration. A: On the first day, the postprandial gastric motor activity was very low and only three activity fronts of the Migrating Motor Complex were observed, two during the night and one early in the morning; B: On the second day, the oral administration of clarithromycin 30 min before lunch was followed about 3 h later by a burst of powerful peristaltic contractions starting in the stomach and progressing in the duodenum, followed by two others bursts at about 80 min intervals. The oral administration of clarithromycin 30 min before dinner induced after about 2.4 h a series of six bursts of powerful peristaltic waves in the stomach and duodenum at 80-100 min intervals[103].