Gastrointestinal Case Study Paper Example

Diagnosis of the disease presented in the case study can be cured by following a step by step process. The symptoms such as diabetes II and the minor signs results to Gastroparesis. A patient with such a clinical picture presents symptoms which if not prevented, they may result in complications that can interfere with a person's health and normal eating. From the research done by different scholars, Metoclopramide is the only appropriate diagnosis which can be used for diagnosis, and it closely follows gastric emptying study. Ideally, metoclopramide is a medication used to treat and prevent nausea, vomiting, and including emptying the stomach. It is classified under Prokinetic agents who essentially help to strengthen and control oesophagal sphincter. A common diagnosis of the disease, therefore, requires prescribed by medical examinations.

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Gastroparesis refers to muscle and stomach disease that causes the stomach to stop functioning correctly. According to Parkman and McCallum (2011), it is a disorder related to gastric emptying, and it occurs when there is no mechanical obstruction. There are complications when it comes to grinding and processing solids and liquids that need to be deposited to the intestines. Gastroparesis causes stomach emptying making food in the stomach to stay for a longer time. When this whole process is affected, there are difficulties in the relaxation of the stomach muscles. The pressure generated in other parts of the stomach pushes food into the small intestines hence weakening stomach muscles. It's manifest leads to mostly non-specific symptoms such as nausea, abnormal pain, satiety, bloating, weight loss to mention a few.

The likely pathophysiologic process responsible for presenting the symptoms is gastric motility. This is an integrated process that follows step by step stomach emptying. The process is an interplay of the coordination between the sympathetic, parasympathetic and the intrinsic-gut nervous system and the gastrointestinal muscle cells. There are critical functional zones that one should be keen with when doing the gastric motility. For instance, the stomach is subdivided into different layers which also play a vital role in food holding and transmission. To begin with the proximal stomach, it comprises the cardia, fundus, and the body (Tillman, Smetana, Bantu & Buckley, 2016). The characterisation is marked by a thin layer of muscles that produce weak contractions. When food is ingested, the proximal stomach produces receptive relaxation because there is no sufficient intragastric pressure to pump processed food into the intestines. This part of the body then takes the role of storage of food which could have been passed to the best part of the body.

The second part of the stomach that controls the pathophysiologic process is the distal stomach. It consists of the antrum and the pylorus which are characterised by thick muscle walls. This part is responsible for enzyme and mechanical digestion, and the pattern of the distal stomach regulates the rate at which partially digested food is emptied to the duodenum. Failure of the gastrointestinal system to slow the rate of movement of chyme to the duodenum results to complications and therefore, a disease by the name gastroparesis. The stomach becomes empty for a long time, but the process of contraction persists in the empty stomach and the small intestines. The contractions are governed by the Migrating Myoelectric Complex (MMC) which even if they are moving slowly into the gastrointestinal tract, another wave of shrinking from the colon comes into igniting friction resulting to stomach disorders.

Treatment for gastroparesis falls under a class of prokinetic drugs. These are the type of drugs that boost gastrointestinal motility by increasing the strength and frequency of muscle and intestine contractions. Cisapride, Domperidone and Metoclopramide are among the drugs that are used for the treatment of gastroparesis (Parkman & McCallum,n 2011). The primary goals for the diagnosis of the disease are to alleviate the symptoms and correction of the malnutrition of the patient. There is, therefore, a need to develop a pharmacologic management plan as one of the interventions for diagnosis. Management of gastroparesis in adults is similar to that of children, and it follows a management plan for pediatric gastroparesis. Clinical guidelines depict that, the management of gastroparesis is done through oral intake. The process is done through fluids and electrolytes patient nutrition. The management is similar to dietary therapy, and it enhances the conditions of the patient regarding stomach emptying and alleviation of gastroparesis symptoms.

There is an important mechanism of action in the pharmacologic management plan that can ease the diagnosis of the disease. Provided that the standard treatment of gastroparesis is pediatrics, there is a need for proper nutritional and counselling support for the patients. Consequently, prokinetic therapy is considered as the first line medication as it accelerates the intestinal transit (Tillman, Smetana, Bantu & Buckley, 2016). Both clinical and non-pharmacological options are helpful in the management and alleviation and treatment of the symptoms. However, mechanism of action on motilin in which amino acids and acid peptide are synthesised helps to stimulate the digestive organs hence making it easy for food to move across the stomach and intestinal tract - clearance of the debris and indigestible materials from the stomach help to remove complications in the stomach.

Conclusion

In conclusion, diagnosis of gastroparesis is fast and good, but the outcomes are not appealing despite the current discovery of pharmacological management systems. For instance, most of the prokinetic drugs are not suitable for pediatric functions. There is a need for further research for the discovery of appropriate medication of the disease and fully diagnosis of the symptoms.

References

Parkman, H. P., & McCallum, R. W. (Eds.). (2011). Gastroparesis: Pathophysiology, presentation and treatment. Springer Science & Business Media.

Tillman, E. M., Smetana, K. S., Bantu, L., & Buckley, M. G. (2016). Pharmacologic treatment for pediatric gastroparesis: a review of the literature. The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 21(2), 120-132.