Landscape of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome: From Bedside to Bench, Past to Present

Investigations into mechanisms of cyclic(al) vomiting syndrome (CVS) began at the bedside more than a century ago. The modern era started with the formation of the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association in 1993 that helped initiate robust efforts in education, advocacy, family physician conferences, scientific symposia, dedicated clinical programs, therapeutic guidelines, and research. Even today, bedside clues continue to emerge with the recent description of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) and subsequent evidence of a perturbed endocannabinoid system. The clinical picture of CVS has evolved from that of a straightforward emetic disorder related to migraine requiring short-term antiemetics or prophylactic anti-migraine therapy, to a complicated, heterogenous one with multiple comorbid associations (anxiety, dysautonomia) and endophenotypes (migraine, Sato, CHS). This expanded view has important therapeutic implications which necessitate managing the comorbidities which can in turn impact the disease itself and proffered promising evidence that behavioral management (meditation) and vagal neuromodulation appear efficacious with few untoward effects, perhaps by reestablishing autonomic (parasympathetic) balance. The pathophysiologic picture now appears to be inscribed on an autonomic polyvagal design but multiple additional pathways interact, some confirmed (NK1, CB1, HPA axis, PPM1D gene, biological calendar, estrogen), and others, possible (TRPV-1, CGRP, GDF-15, mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired cation transport). CVS and its cousin CHS continue to challenge clinicians and perplex investigators and in the current era require not only a critical mass of specific pathway expertise but also syncretic biopsychosocial thinking to integrate these disparate threads. We may have reached such a tipping point at this Symposium.