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“We recently implanted a neurostimulator device into a patient with an extreme form of this stomach disorder, called gastroparesis. She had lost over 47 pounds and was being nourished through a surgically placed small bowel feeding tube. Medication was not working,” said Aaron Tokayer, MD, head of the Motility Center, Division of Gastroenterology at Montefiore. After the implant, an operation performed by Alan White, MD, head of the Montefiore Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery, she feels well, has re-gained weight, no longer uses the feeding tube and has not experienced any vomiting.
Gastroparesis is a condition of markedly delayed gastric emptying. The neuro-muscular activity of the stomach is defective. In patients with gastroparesis, food moves through the stomach more slowly than normal, and may stagnate significantly causing nausea, vomiting, inability to eat and malnutrition. The gastric stimulator, about the size of a heart pacemaker, is implanted under the skin of the abdominal wall and sends precise electrical pulses through leads that are attached to the outer surface of the stomach, delivering constant pulsatile electrical stimulation.A large number of patients with gastroparesis have diabetes. The patient treated at Montefiore, however, did not. The innovative gastric electrical stimulation system, manufactured by Medtronic, is designated by the FDA as a “humanitarian use device” for use in the treatment of rare medical conditions (those which occur fewer than 4,000 per year).
Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is an internationally recognized leader in patient care, education, research and community services. Montefiore provides treatment programs for patients with all major illnesses and has distinguished centers of excellence in heart care, cancer care, children’s health, women’s health and surgery.
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