ROLE OF ELECTROGASTROGRAPHY AND GASTRIC IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENTS IN EVALUATION OF GASTRIC-EMPTYING AND MOTILITY

Electrogastrography records electrical potential variations brought ab out by myoelectrical activity of the stomach. Abnormal myoelectrical r hythms such as tachygastrias may also be detected. Electrogastrography provides little information on gastric motility and emptying. Impedan ce epigastrography is a technique that uses changes in epigastric impe dance to evaluate gastric emptying of large-volume liquid meals. The r esults are inferior to those of tomographic impedance imaging. Phasic antral contractions may lead to phasic impedance changes recorded with nonimaging techniques and a phasic signal recorded with high-speed el ectrical impedance tomography. However, the relationship between phasi c contractions and phasic variations in impedance do not appear consis tent enough to allow clinical application of the technique.