Gastroparesis New Treatment In Clearwater, FL

G-POEM, also called gastric per-oral endoscopic myotomy or endoscopic pyloromyotomy, is the procedure available today for refractory gastroparesis. It divides the pyloric muscle from the inside through an endoscope passed down the mouth, with no abdominal incisions. The step-by-step technique, recovery, and published success and durability figures are covered in depth on our St. Petersburg gastroparesis surgery page, and the condition itself is explained on the gastroparesis overview. What follows is the selection question, which is where most of the outcome is actually determined.

Confirming delayed emptying is only the first step. The second is deciding whether the pylorus is the reason. In selected cases the valve is measured directly with EndoFLIP, the same catheter-based technology used to tailor treatment for achalasia, which gauges how easily the pylorus opens rather than inferring it from symptoms. A tight, poorly opening pylorus is the finding that a myotomy can address. A normal one usually is not.

Cause changes the plan. Gastroparesis is most often diabetic, idiopathic, or post-surgical from vagus nerve injury during earlier esophageal or stomach surgery. Some patients develop slow emptying while taking GLP-1 medications such as semaglutide, and when a drug is driving it, adjusting the drug comes before any procedure. Mechanical contributors get ruled out as well. A large hiatal hernia can produce the same picture, and in Dr. Grandhige’s experience the larger the hernia, the more likely the stomach has become atonic, which may or may not recover after the hernia is repaired. Symptoms also overlap heavily with acid reflux, which is why the two are evaluated together rather than in isolation.

All procedures are performed at HCA Florida South Tampa Hospital with the same operating room team.

The office is at 1315 South Howard Avenue, Suite 101, Tampa, FL 33606, in a yellow brick building next to Sally O’Neill’s Pizza, with parking behind the restaurant. From most of Clearwater the drive is roughly 30 to 40 minutes over the Courtney Campbell Causeway, which is a different and usually easier route than the Gandy or Howard Frankland approach used by patients coming from St. Petersburg.

You will not be driving over for every step. The team coordinates gastric emptying studies and other workup close to home in Pinellas County whenever it can, and reserves the Tampa trips for the consultation and, if it is appropriate, the procedure.

Before your visit, email prior records to info@tampareflux.com: upper endoscopy reports, gastric emptying study results (note the number of hours it ran), any imaging, a current medication list, prior surgical history, and notes from your gastroenterologist or primary care doctor. Dr. Grandhige reviews all of it personally before you arrive, which turns the first visit into a diagnostic conversation instead of a data-collection appointment.

New patients are typically seen within two weeks and always within four. When testing is already complete, one consultation is usually enough and the procedure can often be scheduled around four weeks out. When testing is still needed, plan on two visits roughly four weeks apart and about eight weeks total. Insurance authorization is handled entirely by the office staff and runs in parallel so it does not add to that timeline.

Office hours are 9am to 6pm, Monday through Friday. Phone: 813.922.2920.

Dr. Grandhige is a board-certified general surgeon whose practice is limited to foregut surgery, meaning benign conditions of the esophagus, diaphragm, and stomach. He has practiced in Tampa Bay since 2009 and is the founder and medical director of Tampa Bay Reflux Institute.

He completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, followed by general surgery residency at Yale New Haven Hospital and fellowship training in foregut and minimally invasive surgery there. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, and a founding member of the American Foregut Society. His full training and credentials can be reviewed independently through the American Board of Surgery physician lookup and the Florida Department of Health license verification tool.

Within his foregut practice he has performed more than 600 fundoplications, more than 600 LINX procedures, and more than 200 TIF procedures, and he is one of only a handful of surgeons performing per-oral pyloromyotomy in the Tampa Bay area.

Two things patients raise most often. The first is continuity: the same dedicated physician assistant assists in every case and is reachable during recovery, Dr. Grandhige takes after-hours calls himself, and several medical assistants have been with the practice for over a decade. The second is the explaining. He draws your anatomy by hand during the visit and shows you what is happening and why a given step does or does not fit your situation.