Gastrointestinal motor disturbances in functional dyspepsia

Since dyspepsia, as clinically defined, may constitute a heterogeneous group of conditions, it comes as no surprise that the pathophysiologic disturbances are diverse in character and prevalence. Furthermore, there is no convincing evidence that gastric and/or intestinal motor abnormalities differ among the clinical subgroups of dyspepsia. It is reasonable to suspect that a dyspeptic patient may have a gastrointestinal motor disturbance, since about half of them have delayed gastric emptying and antral hypomotility. However, proof of such motor disorder requires physiologic investigation. Even then, certainty as to whether motor abnormalities and symptoms have a causal relationship is often difficult to obtain.