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Duodenal dyskinesias - Symptoms
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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Functional disorders of the motor activity of the duodenum have been studied most thoroughly in chronic functional duodenostasis. The clinical picture is practically no different from that of chronic organic duodenostasis and is characterized by alternating exacerbations and remissions. P. N. Napalkov (1963) identifies the following stages of duodenostasis: compensation, subcompensation, and decompensation. The following symptoms are characteristic of the exacerbation phase of chronic duodenostasis: constant pain in the epigastric region, right hypochondrium, which may intensify after eating, a feeling of heaviness in the epigastric region, nausea, vomiting (usually with an admixture of bile). In addition, patients may complain of poor appetite, weight loss, constipation. Expressed general symptoms of intoxication are possible. Pain in duodenostasis is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, which is associated with stretching of the walls of the duodenum, which may be a consequence of a constant increase in intraduodenal pressure as a result of impaired evacuation of contents from the intestine.
Other forms of duodenal motor dysfunction do not have a clear pathognomonic clinical picture. At the same time, developing against the background of diseases of the organs of the hepatopancreatoduodenal system, duodenal dyskinesias give a peculiar coloring to their clinical manifestations.
According to most authors, among the factors determining the occurrence of pain in peptic ulcer disease, motor-evacuation disorders are extremely important, in particular spastic condition, increased muscle tone and intraorgan pressure in the gastroduodenal zone. In this regard, the mechanism of occurrence of characteristic ulcer-like pain in the absence of peptic ulcer disease becomes clear. Researchers have found the same pain in erosions of the duodenal bulb, duodenitis, the so-called pre-ulcer condition, anomalies of the duodenum, diseases of the liver, pancreas, biliary tract, esophagus, intestines, visceroptosis, ascariasis, asthenoneurotic syndrome. In the absence of a typical clinical picture in the diagnosis of duodenal dyskinesia, additional research methods are most significant.
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