We evaluated intragastric food distribution and antral motor activity in patients with functional dyspepsia.
Methods: A standard gastric emptying test and dynamic imaging of the antrum were used to characterize gastric antral motility disturbances and to correlate them with total and compartmental gastric emptying in 25 dyspeptic patients.
Results: We found a 40% prevalence of gastroparesis in functional dyspepsia. Solid gastric emptying delay is indicated by a prolonged lag phase and an increase in frequency and amplitude of gastric contractions, resulting in nonexpulsive antral contractions and/or antropyloric dyscoordination. Food retention in the distal stomach and antral distention appears to account for patients' dyspeptic symptoms.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that scintigraphy not only detects abnormalities of food distribution in the stomach but also provides information on antral motor activity noninvasively. Dynamic antral scintigraphy and compartmental gastric emptying are useful tools to define the pathophysiology of dyspeptic patients with or without gastroparesis.