Real‐time ultrasonographic assessment of antroduodenal motility after ingestion of solid and liquid meals by patients with functional dyspepsia

TLDR

Ultrasonography, a non‑invasive method, is increasingly used to assess antroduodenal motility and may improve understanding of functional dyspepsia pathogenesis. The study used ultrasonography to measure gastric emptying rate, motility index, and duodenogastric reflux for liquid meals and gastric emptying time, half‑emptying time, and motility index for solid meals in 64 functional dyspepsia patients and 36 healthy controls. Functional dyspepsia patients exhibited significantly slower gastric emptying rate and motility index and higher duodenogastric reflux after liquid meals, and significantly shorter gastric emptying time, half‑emptying time, and motility index after solid meals compared with healthy subjects; delayed gastric emptying occurred in 20.3 % of patients overall, 62.5 % for either meal, and solid‑meal delayed emptying correlated with early antral hypomotility.

Abstract

Although antroduodenal motility has usually been studied by using manometric or scintigraphic methods, ultrasonography is an established, non-invasive method to evaluate duodenogastric motility. We used ultrasonography to evaluate gastric motility in patients with functional dyspepsia.Sixty-four patients with functional dyspepsia and 36 asymptomatic healthy subjects were given liquid and solid test meals. We investigated the gastric emptying rate, motility index, and duodenogastric reflux for the liquid meal and gastric emptying time, half-emptying time, and motility index for the solid meal.After the liquid meal, the gastric emptying rate and motility index were significantly lower and the duodenogastric reflux was significantly higher in functional dyspepsia patients than in healthy subjects. After the solid meal, gastric emptying time, half-emptying time and the motility index were significantly lower in the patients than in the healthy subjects. Delayed gastric emptying of both meals occurred in only 20.3% of patients. Delayed emptying of the liquid or solid meal occurred in 62.5% of patients. In both groups, gastric emptying time of the solid meal was positively correlated with the motility index at 15 min post-ingestion.In functional dyspepsia patients, delayed gastric emptying of a solid meal was related to antral hypomotility during the early postprandial phase. Ultrasonographic assessment of gastric motility in both liquid and solid meals may provide a better understanding of the pathogenesis of functional dyspepsia.