A patient with systemic sclerosis may develop gastroparesis alone or together with other sites of gastrointestinal dysmotility.
Patient selection: systemic sclerosis
Frequency of gastroparesis: a third to half of patients with scleroderma, especially if there are gastrointestinal symptoms
Whole-gut transit scintigraphy is useful to identify sites of gastrointestinal dysmotility in patients with systemic sclerosis. This may be positive even if emptying studies are normal.
Testing of gastric emptying should be performed:
(1) with solid food
(2) with liquids
(3) with both liquids and solids taken together (which may be more sensitive than either alone)
A high titer of anti-centromere protein B (CENP-B) is associated with delayed gastric emptying.
If gastroparesis is identified, then the patient is at risk for dysmotility elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract.
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