DYNAMIC ANTRAL SCINTIGRAPHY TO CHARACTERIZE GASTRIC ANTRAL MOTILITY IN FUNCTIONAL DYSPEPSIA

We evaluated intragastric food distribution and antral motor activity in patients with functional dyspepsia. Methods: A standard gastric emp tying 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. S olid gastric emptying delay is indicated by a prolonged lag phase and an increase in frequency and amplitude of gastric contractions, result ing in nonexpulsive antral contractions and/or antropyloric dyscoordin ation. Food retention in the distal stomach and antral distention appe ars to account for patients' dyspeptic symptoms. Conclusion: This stud y demonstrates that scintigraphy not only detects abnormalities of foo d distribution in the stomach but also provides information on antral motor activity noninvasively. Dynamic antral scintigraphy and compartm ental gastric emptying are useful tools to define the pathophysiology of dyspeptic patients with or without gastroparesis.