Gastroparesis Management In Clearwater, FL

Accurate diagnosis means measuring how your stomach empties and checking for the conditions that mimic or accompany gastroparesis, not confirming delayed emptying and stopping there. Gastroparesis is delayed stomach emptying with no physical blockage. The NIDDK gastroparesis overview covers the basic definition, causes, and symptoms, so this page focuses on what a specialist workup adds. For how this practice approaches gastroparesis overall, start there.

Dr. Grandhige’s workup can include a 4-hour gastric emptying study to measure how much food remains over time, upper endoscopy to rule out obstruction and check the pylorus and for a hiatal hernia, esophageal manometry to test how well the esophagus moves food, and pH impedance testing when reflux may be feeding the symptoms. In selected cases he uses EndoFLIP, a tool that measures the pylorus and esophagus during the procedure, to guide the decision.

Each test answers a different question. The emptying study tells you whether the stomach is slow. Endoscopy tells you whether something structural is in the way. Manometry tells you whether the esophagus itself is part of the problem. Skip a piece and you risk treating the wrong thing, which is the most common reason a gastroparesis treatment fails to help.

You can start from Clearwater with a phone call and by sending your records ahead, so the first visit is spent on answers instead of paperwork. Before you arrive, Dr. Grandhige personally reviews any prior testing you send: gastric emptying studies, endoscopy and pathology reports, manometry, imaging, and notes from your gastroenterologist or other physicians. Email records to info@tampareflux.com before the appointment.

Most patients are seen within two weeks, and always within four. If you already have complete testing, a plan can often be discussed at the first visit. If you need testing, a second visit about four weeks later reviews the results and settles the plan, which keeps decisions based on data. From first visit to treatment, that usually runs four to eight weeks.

For out-of-town patients, the office coordinates testing to cut down on trips. When a study can be done closer to your home, they arrange it there, so your visit to South Tampa stays focused. The office is at 1315 South Howard Avenue, Suite 101, in a yellow brick building next to Sally O’Neill’s Pizza, with parking behind the restaurant. From Clearwater, it is roughly a 30 to 40 minute drive across the bay.

You can read more about Dr. Grandhige’s training and background, including his work with overlapping conditions like silent reflux (LPR) that often accompany delayed emptying.

Gopal Grandhige, MD, is a board-certified general surgeon who has focused on foregut surgery in the Tampa Bay area since 2009. He completed his fellowship in Foregut Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital, earned his medical degree at the University of Michigan, and completed his undergraduate degree in biology at Johns Hopkins University. He is a Founding Member of the American Foregut Society, a member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He has performed over 600 fundoplications, over 600 LINX procedures, and over 200 TIF procedures, holds privileges across several Tampa Bay hospitals, and performs his surgeries at HCA South Tampa Hospital.