Cyclic vomiting syndrome in adults

Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) was initially described in children but can occur in all age groups. Cyclic vomiting syndrome is increasingly recognized in adults. However, the lack of awareness of CVS in adults has led to small numbers of diagnosed patients and a paucity of published data on the causes, diagnosis and management of CVS in adults. This article is a state-of-knowledge overview on CVS in adults and is intended to provide a framework for management and further investigations into CVS in adults.

Childhood functional gastrointestinal disorders

This is the first attempt at defining criteria for functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. The decision-making process was as for adults and consisted of arriving at consensus, based on clinical experience. This paper is intended to be a quick reference. The classification system selected differs from the one used in the adult population in that it is organized according to main complaints instead of being organ-targeted. Because the child is still developing, some disorders such as toddler's diarrhea (or functional diarrhea) are linked to certain physiologic stages; others may result from behavioral responses to sphincter function acquisition such as fecal retention; others will only be recognizable after the child is cognitively mature enough to report the symptoms (e.g., dyspepsia). Infant regurgitation, rumination, and cyclic vomiting constitute the vomiting disorders. Abdominal pain disorders are classified as: functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional abdominal pain, abdominal migraine, and aerophagia. Disorders of defecation include: infant dyschezia, functional constipation, functional fecal retention, and functional non-retentive fecal soiling. Some disorders, such as IBS and dyspepsia and functional abdominal pain, are exact replications of the adult criteria because there are enough data to confirm that they represent specific and similar disorders in pediatrics. Other disorders not included in the pediatric classification, such as functional biliary disorders, do occur in children; however, existing data are insufficient to warrant including them at the present time. For these disorders, it is suggested that, for the time being, clinicians refer to the criteria established for the adult population.

Cyclic vomiting syndrome: features to be explained by a pathophysiologic model

Cyclic vomiting syndrome is a disorder of unknown etiology that is characterized by its clinical pattern of rapid-fire, episodic (on-off) vomiting with interval wellness. The pattern is stereotypic within individuals and typified by a rapid onset during the night or early morning, rapid denouement, and associated symptoms of pallor, lethargy, anorexia, nausea, retching, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The vomiting appears to be triggered by a variety of physical and psychological stresses. The disorder usually begins in toddlers and resolves during adolescence. By definition, cyclic vomiting syndrome is an idiopathic disorder that requires exclusionary laboratory testing. Not only can it be mimicked by many specific disorders, eg, surgical, neurologic, endocrine, metabolic, renal, but within idiopathic cyclic vomiting syndrome there may be specific subgroups that have different mechanisms. Treatment options are improving at present and serotonergic agents have the most promise. Although the pathogenesis is unknown, there are now several tenable mechanisms including migraine, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and gastrointestinal. Cyclic vomiting syndrome may be a useful model for the study of emesis.

Management of premature infants with extensive bowel resection with high volume enteral infusates

To avoid long-term parenteral nutrition (PN), three premature infants with extensive bowel resections were fed high volume enteral infusates (HVEI). Following surgery an elemental hypo-osmolar gastric infusate was initiated. The infants were weaned of PN and were subsequently maintained on HVEI feeding. Rather than using the volume of the ileostomy outputs or the presence of reducing substances as guides for adjustment of enteral intake, we tolerated large ileostomy output and focused instead on the patients' hydration, serum electrolytes and acid base status. During HVEI feeding, the patients had sustained weight gain, while the mean +/- SD enteral intakes were 373 +/- 67, 689 +/- 132, and 415 +/- 108 ml/kg per day; osmolarity of enteral infusates were 250 +/- 25, 225 +/- 40 and 228 +/- 27 mosmol/l; caloric intakes were 163 +/- 29, 258 +/- 54, and 153 +/- 44 Kcal/kg per day; and ileostomy outputs were 113 +/- 47, 228 +/- 59, and 175 +/- 69 ml/kg per day, respectively. Gut adaptation lasted 122, 141, and 205 days, respectively. Re-anastomoses of the intestines were performed at the ages of 8, 78, and 36 months. At 18, 108, and 58 months, infants' weights were in the 50th, 20th, and 5th percentiles, respectively. No infant developed cirrhosis. High volume enteral infusate feeding in infants with extensive bowel resection may help achieve gut adaptation and may serve as an alternative nutrition modality to prolonged PN.

The cyclic vomiting syndrome described

Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) consists of discrete episodes of nausea and vomiting lasting hours or days, separated by symptom-free intervals of similar or varying lengths. The disorder is not caused by underlying organic disease. The episodes tend to be similar in time of onset, duration, and symptomatology specific for each patient and are self-limited. The majority of patients can identify experiences or conditions that may precipitate episodes, the commonest being heightened emotional states and infections. The onset of CVS most often occurs during preschool or early school years, although it may begin at any age, from infancy to mature adulthood. CVS episodes can recur for months or decades, and their subsidence cannot be predicted.

Management of cyclic vomiting syndrome

The general goals of treatment of cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) are: interruption of established episodes, amelioration of symptoms in patients whose episodes cannot be interrupted, aborting episodes during prodromal symptoms, prophylaxis to abolish or lessen the frequency of episodes, and recovery. Complications of cyclic vomiting episodes include esophagitis, hematemesis, depletion of intracellular electrolytes, hypertension, and secretion of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone.

Functional vomiting disorders in infancy: innocent vomiting, nervous vomiting, and infant rumination syndrome

Pediatric gastroenterologists have tended to view gastroesophageal reflux (GER) as a disease in and of itself--a disease that can be diagnosed "objectively" with use of numerical data from esophageal pH monitoring and cured with pharmacologic or surgical treatment. What is often forgotten is that the data derived from esophageal pH monitoring and other techniques may identify the presence of abnormal GER but tell nothing about its pathogenesis. The usual approach to infants who feed poorly, vomit, or fail to gain weight is to identify the presence of abnormal GER, rule out underlying organic causes of vomiting, and then diagnosis primary GER disease. The baby is then treated with pharmacologic, dietary, or positional therapy and, ultimately, if these therapies fail to eradicate the symptoms attributed to GER, surgical fundoplication, which stops vomiting regardless of its causes. The pediatric literature on infant vomiting and GER is almost devoid of research into the nature and possible relationships among infant stress, vomiting, feeding difficulties, and failure to grow. Clinically, the quality of the maternal-infant relationship is frequently approached superficially, with psychosocial aspects treated as less important in infants considered to have primary organic disease amenable to medical or surgical treatment. Psychosocial factors in the pathogenesis of the infant's symptoms are often not pursued beyond assessment for possible abuse or neglect. It has been known for centuries that stress or excitement affects gastrointestinal function and symptoms. Although the field of infant psychiatry has produced a substantial literature on the nature of stresses that affect both infants and mothers, the pediatric literature on vomiting and failure to thrive seldom acknowledges the existence or importance of these contributions. In clinical practice, failure to explore psychosocial aspects that may contribute to vomiting, feeding difficulties, or failure to thrive may result in missed opportunities for less invasive, more effective therapy at best, and countertherapeutic treatment at worst. This article describes three functional vomiting disorders of infancy, their distinguishing characteristics, hypotheses regarding their pathogenesis, and principles of comprehensive management.

The cyclic vomiting syndrome: a report of 71 cases and literature review

This study reviews 71 patients who presented between 1968 and 1988 with recurrent, self-limited episodes of nausea and vomiting separated by symptom-free intervals and were diagnosed with cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS). The length and symptomatology of episodes tended to be stereotyped and characteristic for each patient over time. The disorder may persist from months to decades. There is a coincident relationship between CVS, migraine, and irritable bowel syndrome. The differential diagnosis includes many diseases which may mimic CVS. Management involves a responsive, collaborative doctor-patient relationship, sensitivity to stresses caused by the illness and to feelings and attitudes that may predispose to attacks, use of antiemetic agents to abort or shorten attacks, treatment of complications, and use of prophylactic agents in patients whose episodes are of sufficient frequency and severity to warrant their trial.

Masturbation mimicking abdominal pain or seizures in young girls

Five girls, 7 to 27 months of age, had masturbatory posturing that did not involve rubbing of the genitalia or copulatory movements. This activity was mistakenly attributed to abdominal pain or seizures, and prompted unnecessary diagnostic tests. The posturing began at 3 to 14 months and consisted of "leaning episodes" in which the suprapubic region was applied to a firm edge or the parent's knee in one patient, stiffening of the lower extremities in a standing or sitting position in the second patient, and stiffening of the lower extremities while lying on their sides or supine in three infant patients. The posturing was often accompanied by irregular breathing, facial flushing, and diaphoresis, and lasted less than a minute to hours at a time. Management consisted of convincing the parents of the harmless nature of the activity, which then lessened the reinforcing effect of their responses. The posturing subsided, in time, without medical or surgical treatment.

Infant rumination syndrome: report of a case and review of the literature

The infant rumination syndrome is an uncommon disorder difficult to differentiate from commoner conditions causing vomiting and weight loss. Its validity has recently been questioned. Its importance is heightened by the availability of newer diagnostic and operative procedures that might be misapplied. An 8-month-old male infant had been regurgitating for two months with increasing inanition. Results of diagnostic tests suggested pylorospasm or gastric pseudo-obstruction syndrome. Medical management failed. A therapeutic trial of special nursing eight hours a day resulted in rapid rehydration, weight gain, and avoidance of surgery. This case exemplifies each of the ten characteristics of the infant rumination syndrome.