Potential pharmacological approaches to management of gut motility disorders

Recent advances in gut neuropathology, electrophysiology, manometry, and quantification of luminal transit rates have improved our understanding of gut motility disorders and facilitated their early diagnosis. However, therapeutic progress has generally lagged behind, despite some very significant pharmacological developments. The main categories of gut motility disorders and their postulated pathogenetic mechanisms are described, and potential pharmacological approaches to their management are reviewed.