News in Pediatric Gastroenterology Pharmacology
Prokinetics
Paolo Quitadamo, Giusy Romano, Osvaldo Borrelli
1Dipartimento di Pediatria, A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausillipon, Napoli 2Pediatria, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Università “Magna Graecia” di Catanzaro, 3Division of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London (UK)
Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders in children are a heterogeneous group of conditions that can be particularly difficult to recognize and manage. The main symptoms related to these disorders are typically chronic and have a significant impact on quality of life. The therapy of children with GI motility disorders consists of a multidisciplinary approach, which includes nutrition optimization, improvement of gastrointestinal motor activity and reduction of psychosocial disability. As for pharmacological therapy, considerable progress has been made in recent years and a number of new therapeutic options are currently available. Many of these target the serotonergic system, which has been shown to play a critical role in intestinal pathophysiology.