Signs and symptoms
The most common symptoms of gastroparesis are the following:
Chronic nausea
Vomiting (especially of undigested food)
Abdominal pain
A feeling of fullness after eating just a few bitesOther symptoms include the following:

Abdominal bloating
Body aches (myalgia)
Erratic blood glucose levels
Acid reflux (GERD)
Heartburn
Lack of appetite
Morning nausea
Muscle weakness
Night sweats
Palpitations
Spasms of the stomach wall
Constipation or infrequent bowel movements
Weight loss, malnutrition
Difficulty swallowingVomiting may not occur in all cases, as those affected may adjust their diets to include only small amounts of food. Causes
Transient gastroparesis may arise in acute illness of any kind, as a consequence of certain cancer treatments or other drugs which affect digestive action, or due to abnormal eating patterns. The symptoms are almost identical to those of low stomach acid, therefore most doctors will usually recommend trying out supplemental hydrochloric acid before moving on to the invasive procedures required to confirm a damaged nerve. Patients with cancer may develop gastroparesis because of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, immunosuppression followed by viral infections involving the GI tract, procedures such as celiac blocks, paraneoplastic neuropathy or myopathy, or after an allogeneic bone marrow transplant via graft-versus-host disease.Gastroparesis present similar symptoms to slow gastric emptying caused by certain opioid medications, antidepressants, and allergy medications, along with high blood pressure. For patients already with gastroparesis, these can make the condition worse. More than 50% of all gastroparesis cases are idiopathic in nature, with unknown causes. It is, however, frequently caused by autonomic neuropathy. This may occur in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, about 30–50% among long-standing diabetics.
Side effects
Common side effects include: bladder pain; bloating or swelling of the face, arms, hands, lower legs, or feet; bloody or cloudy urine; body aches or pain; chest pain; chills; confusion; cough; diarrhea; difficult, burning, or painful urination; difficulty with breathing; difficulty with speaking up to inability to speak; double vision; sleeplessness; and inability to move the arms, legs, or facial muscles. Society and culture
Legal status
Sipuleucel-T was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 29, 2010, to treat asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic HRPC.Shortly afterward, sipuleucel-T was added to the compendium of cancer treatments published by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) as a "category 1" (highest recommendation) treatment for HRPC. The NCCN Compendium is used by Medicare and major health care insurance providers to decide whether a treatment should be reimbursed. Research
Clinical trials
Completed
Sipuleucel-T showed overall survival (OS) benefit to patients in three double-blind randomized phase III clinical trials, D9901, D9902a, and IMPACT.The IMPACT trial served as the basis for FDA licensing. This trial enrolled 512 patients with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic HRPC randomized in a 2:1 ratio. The median survival time for sipuleucel-T patients was 25.8 months comparing to 21.7 months for placebo-treated patients, an increase of 4.1 months. 31.7% of treated patients survived for 36 months vs. 23.0% in the control arm. Overall survival was statistically significant (P=0.032). The longer survival without tumor shrinkage or change in progression is surprising. This may suggest the effect of an unmeasured variable.