This condition may be caused by habitual excess in eating and drinking, or it may follow such general conditions as neurasthenia, or anemia, in which conditions there is a progressive weakening of the muscles, or it may be caused by a mechanical stoppage of the pylorus, as in the case of pyloric stenosis or the growth of a tumor in the vicinity of the pylorus. From any of these causes the condition is a serious one. The interference of the passage of foods from the stomach into the intestines necessitates the reduction of the quantity which is to pass through the pylorus to the smallest proportions. Yet the food given must be such as can easily be liquefied and digested in the stomach. The rational indication is for highly condensed solid foods, which must be very thoroughly masticated before they pass into the stomach. If the food remains in the stomach a considerable time, fermentative and putrefactive changes may begin. This introduces another reason for the use of condensed easily digestible foods in smaller quantities. If there is evidence that fermentative or putrefactive changes have taken place, then the stomach must be washed out, completely freed from the products of fermentation.

The free use of beverages should be discouraged, as they tend to aggravate the dilatation. Sugars should be prohibited, as they have a tendency to easy fermentation. Any of the better grades of meat, such as beefsteak or roast, mutton chop or roast, fish, fowl, or game, may be used. Any of the cereals thoroughly cooked may be used, also the legumes. Care should be taken to introduce with these foods no coarse, chaffy, and scaly material with the cereals and no bits of bone or gristle with the meats, as these are wholly indigestible, and may clog a narrowed pyloric opening, besides serving as an irritant to a sensitive mucous membrane. Soft-boiled or raw egg, stale bread, toast, zwieback, are in order. A general rule to be always observed in these cases is that no food should be swallowed that has not been completely masticated and mixed with saliva. Even foods that are taken into the mouth as fluids should be sipped in small quantities and held in the mouth until thoroughly mixed with saliva before they are swallowed. This holding of the food in the mouth, tasting and mixing it with saliva, is one of the strongest stimuli to normal gastric activity.