Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIP) is the name given to a number of rare disorders that cause impaired gastrointestinal motility (movement in the digestive tract). A diagnosis of CIP is based on symptoms that occur when the intestine is blocked and on clinical findings. In pseudo-obstruction, the symptoms are caused not by a surgically correctable tumor, twist, or ulcer in the bowel, but by a problem having to do with the strength or coordination of the contractions that move along the contents of the bowel.