B. Pfaffenbach et al., THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ELECTROGASTROGRAPHICALLY DETERMINED AMPLITUDES - IS THERE A CORRELATION TO SONOGRAPHICALLY MEASURED ANTRAL MECHANICAL CONTRACTIONS, Zeitschrift fur Gastroenterologie, 33(2), 1995, pp. 103-107
Cutaneous electrogastrography (EGG) allows the measurement of gastric
electrical activity. An association of EGG with gastrointestinal motil
ity disorders has been shown. Abnormalities of electrical rate or rhyt
hm are accepted as the most important parameters in EGG. However, the
reliability of the magnitude of electrical amplitude in the assessment
of motility is discussed controversially Therefore in a prospective s
tudy we investigated the relation between amplitude and antral contrac
tions by means of ultrasonography. 8 healthy volunteers (4 men, 4 wome
n, 24-31 years)ingested 400 mi carbonated mineral water after an overn
ight fast at two separate study days. Over a period of 10 min preprand
ial and 10 min postprandial small and intense antral contractions were
measured employing sagittal antral planimetry. Simultaneous amplitude
s were determined during contractions and at 1 min intervals (average
amplitude) by cutaneous electrogastrography. Data were analyzed by Wil
coxon's rank sum test and Spearman rank correlation test. The coeffici
ent of variation of the postprandial/preprandial amplitude ratio was n
early two times greater between subjects than between recordings in th
e same subject, which reflects a moderate intraindividual reproducibil
ity. We found a significant increase in the average amplitude postpran
dially (p < 0.05). Although postprandial contractions (n = 243) predom
inated preprandial contractions (n = 127) significantly (p = 0.02), no
significant correlation between the number of contractions and the av
erage amplitude existed (R = 0.1; p = 0.7). Moreover the average ampli
tude did not differ from amplitudes during intense and small contracti
ons significantly (p = 0.7; p = 0.1). The magnitude of the amplitude m
easured by EGG does not correlate with the mechanical gastral activity
significantly. Therefore, the amplitude in EGG is probably an unsuita
be parameter in assessing gastric motility.