Gastroparesis Treatment In St. Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg sits across the bay from one of the few foregut-focused surgical practices in the region. Most gastroparesis care in Pinellas and Hillsborough is medical management handled by a general gastroenterologist: diet changes and prokinetic drugs. That helps some people. When it stops working, the question becomes who locally can offer a procedure, and that list is short.

Dr. Grandhige built Tampa Bay Reflux Institute around benign diseases of the esophagus, stomach, and diaphragm, including gastroparesis. He performs endoscopic pyloromyotomy (also called G-POEM or POP), an incision-free procedure done through the mouth that divides the pyloric muscle to ease stomach emptying. On his own account he is one of only a handful of physicians performing it in Tampa Bay. For St. Pete patients, that means the procedure is roughly 20 to 30 minutes away rather than a flight to a national center.

This page is specifically for people in St. Petersburg and the surrounding Pinellas communities who have already tried the basics and want to know what comes next. For the full clinical overview of the condition, see the main gastroparesis treatment page.

Gastroparesis means the stomach empties too slowly even though nothing is physically blocking it. The stomach muscle that should push food forward is sluggish or uncoordinated, so food sits too long. That is what drives the nausea, bloating, early fullness, and vomiting of undigested food hours after eating.

It often has no clear cause. In some people it follows diabetes, prior surgery, or nerve injury, and certain medications (opioid pain relievers, some antidepressants, some blood pressure and allergy drugs) slow emptying and can make existing gastroparesis worse. Because these symptoms overlap with reflux, rumination, and functional dyspepsia, the first job is to confirm gastroparesis rather than assume it.

Treatment decisions start with proving the diagnosis, not guessing from symptoms. The most useful test is a gastric emptying study, and Dr. Grandhige reviews it personally before your visit when it already exists.

Endoscopic pyloromyotomy helps most when objective testing confirms that pyloric dysfunction is driving delayed emptying and your symptoms correlate with those findings. It is not a fit for everyone.

• A reasonable candidate: confirmed delayed gastric emptying, symptoms that track with the testing, and inadequate relief from diet and medication.
• Better served by another step first: severe malnutrition or weight loss, where stabilizing nutrition comes before any definitive procedure.
• Often not reflux or gastroparesis at all: symptoms actually caused by rumination, functional dyspepsia, or a motility disorder like achalasia, which need different treatment.

Telling these apart is exactly why the testing comes first. Operating on the wrong diagnosis is how patients end up disappointed, and avoiding that is part of the job.

Gastroparesis decisions improve with focus and volume in foregut disease, not occasional exposure. Dr. Grandhige has practiced foregut surgery in Tampa Bay since 2009 and treats the esophagus, stomach, and diaphragm almost exclusively.

His verifiable background:

• Gopal Grandhige, MD — board-certified general surgeon; Founder and Medical Director, Tampa Bay Reflux Institute.
• Training: biology at Johns Hopkins University, medical degree at the University of Michigan, general surgery residency and fellowships in foregut/minimally invasive surgery and in burn/critical care at Yale–New Haven Hospital.
• Memberships: Founding Member of the American Foregut Society, member of SAGES, and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS).
• Procedure volume across foregut surgery: more than 600 fundoplications, more than 600 LINX procedures, and more than 200 TIF procedures.

You can verify board certification through the American Board of Surgery and the American College of Surgeons directory, and active licensure through the Florida Department of Health license lookup. For background on the procedure itself, the American Gastroenterological Association is an authoritative reference.

Many St. Pete patients also come for related foregut problems that travel with gastroparesis, such as severe reflux or a hiatal hernia. Where it is safe and appropriate, addressing more than one issue together avoids repeat surgeries. You can read more about his approach on the about the practice page or browse the patient education blog.