Gastroparesis Relief with AHN’s G-POEM Procedure

Give Your Patients Gastroparesis Relief with G-POEM Procedure at AHN

With multiple hospital visits, medication costs, and decreased quality of life providing a significant health care burden for patients with gastroparesis, AHN is proud to offer G-POEM (Gastric Peroral Endoscopic Myotomy). Used as an alternative to laparoscopic surgery and medical therapy, G-POEM relieves uncomfortable symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, and nausea.

Is G-POEM right for your patient?

G-POEM has proven to relieve symptoms for patients where traditional gastroparesis medication has not been successful, or for patients who are unable to make enough dietary modifications to ease their symptoms.

Abhijit Kulkarni, MD, FASGE, AHN gastroenterologist, and professor of medicine and director of the Advanced Endoscopy Training Program at Drexel University, says while gastroparesis may sound benign and non-life-threatening, it can significantly impact a person’s quality of life.

“At AHN, our goal is not just to improve health, but to improve quality of life,” said Dr. Kulkarni. “Eating food is necessary — it fuels our bodies, so we want to help make that aspect of life better. G-POEM has allowed us to do that for many people with few side effects and a lot of success.”

How does G-POEM work?

G-POEM is a minimally invasive procedure that permanently relaxes the valve between the stomach and the small intestine.

During the procedure, patients are given anesthesia while AHN’s highly skilled gastroenterologists perform an endoscopy through the mouth and tunnel through the stomach wall to cut the muscles around the pyloric sphincter. This improves the flow of food from the stomach to the small intestine to relieve the feeling of fullness and other related symptoms.

In comparison to traditional laparoscopic surgery or medical therapy, G-POEM offers several benefits:

• G-POEM only takes about 90 minutes to perform.
• The recovery time is faster, and the risk of infection is lower.
• There is no skin incision or scarring.
• G-POEM has fewer side effects than traditional surgical approaches.
• 50-70% of patients experience symptomatic improvement with better quality of life.*

After G-POEM, patients typically spend one night in the hospital for observation, and may experience minor and temporary side effects like a sore throat, chest discomfort, abdominal pain, or ulcers near the pylorus. Additional testing like barium studies or CT scans may be conducted to ensure a patient is recovering properly.

Patients attend follow-up appointments for testing at six to eight weeks, one year, and two years post-procedure.

Continued and coordinated care

While G-POEM can provide significant relief for patients, Dr. Kulkarni stresses that this is not a “one and done” procedure.

“Each person’s experience with gastroparesis is unique. G-POEM is one of the many treatment options available at AHN, but we look at the whole picture to provide coordinated and ongoing gastrointestinal care.”

Our nationally recognized gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition physicians under AHN’s Medicine Institute are highly experienced and skilled in specialties across our gastroenterology program.

Patients can benefit from a diverse range of expertise to further manage their gastrointestinal needs and ensure long-term health after their procedure. Our multidisciplinary team consists of gastroenterologists, medical specialists, nutritionists, dieticians, and endocrinologists.

How to refer:

If you have patients that may benefit from G-POEM or other gastroenterology expertise, call AHN Gastroenterology at 412-359-8900 or (412) DOCTORS.

*Source: Gastric Peroral Endoscopic Pyloromyotomy Reduces Symptoms, Increases Quality of Life, and Reduces Health Care Use For Patients With Gastroparesis. Cghjournal.org