Are Gastroparesis and Functional Dyspepsia Essentially the Same Disorder?

Because symptoms of functional dyspepsia (FD) and gastroparesis are similar, some experts suggest that these two diagnostic entities are variations on the same fundamental disorder. To explore this issue, researchers analyzed data in a multicenter U.S. National Institutes of Health–sponsored gastroparesis registry. At enrollment, 720 patients were considered to have gastroparesis (with abnormal gastric emptying on scintigraphy), and 244 patients had normal gastric-emptying scintigraphy and met Rome III criteria for FD (i.e., postprandial fullness, early satiety, or epigastric pain or burning). Structural upper gastrointestinal disorders were ruled out by endoscopy in all patients. One third of gastroparesis patients had diabetes; remaining …