Outcomes and quality-of-life assessment after gastric per-oral endoscopic pyloromyotomy (with video)

Background and aim: Gastric per-oral endoscopic pyloromyotomy (GPOEM) is emerging as a promising option for the treatment of gastroparesis. This study assessed outcomes and quality of life after GPOEM for gastroparesis, performed in an endoscopy unit at a major tertiary referral center.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of patients who had undergone GPOEM from June 2015 to July 2016. Data were collected from electronic medical records and included patient demographics, endoscopy records, hospitalization records, clinic visits, and electronic messages. Scores for the Short Form 36 (SF36) and Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index (GCSI) were obtained pre-procedure (16 patients), at 1 month (16 patients), at 6 months (13 patients), and at 12 months (6 patients) after the GPOEM procedure was performed.

Results: Sixteen consecutive patients, 13 women and 3 men (mean age, 44.76 ± 14.8 years), who underwent GPOEM were enrolled. GPOEM was technically successful in all cases. Thirteen of 16 (81%) patients had a significant improvement in the mean GCSI after GPOEM: 3.40 ± 0.50 before the procedure (16 patients) to 1.48 ± 0.95 (P = .0001) at 1 month (16 patients), 1.36 ± 0.9 (P < .01) at 6 months (13 patients), and 1.46 ± 1.4 (P < .01) at 12 months (6 patients) follow-up. Mean duration of the procedure was 49.7 ± 22.1 minutes. Mean myotomy length was 2.94 ± 0.1 cm. Mean length of hospital stay was 2.46 ± 0.7 days. No adverse events occurred with GPOEM. The SF36 questionnaire demonstrated a significant improvement in quality of life in several domains that was sustained through 6-months' follow-up. Mean 4-hour gastric retention on gastric emptying scans decreased from 62.9% ± 24.3% to 17.6% ± 16.7% (P = .007) after GPOEM.

Conclusions: GPOEM results in improvement in the overall symptoms of gastroparesis measured by GCSI, objective assessment of improvement in gastric emptying, and improvement in multiple domains on validated quality-of-life inventories in SF36 over a follow-up period of 6 months.