EVALUATION OF HUMAN POSTPRANDIAL ANTRAL MATER FUNCTION USING ULTRASOUND

We used high-resolution ultrasound to characterize postprandial antral excursion characteristics in 15 healthy volunteers. Antral circumfere nce was repeatedly measured in the sagittal plane anterior to the abdo minal aorta, at 15-min intervals following ingestion of a standard mea l. At each recording period, the maximal and minimal antral circumfere nce was noted. In seven volunteers, antral circumference was studied c ontinuously for 5 min at each 15-min recording period to assess the fr equency and regularity of antral excursions. Antral circumference incr eased immediately after meal ingestion from preprandial values of 64 /- 2.6 (means +/- SE) to 138 +/- 3.1 mm and then gradually decreased w ith meal emptying to 72 +/- 2.6 mm at 90 min. The continuous recording s of antral images revealed that antral circumference transiently decr eased at regular intervals; the interval between successive excursions was 20.1 +/- 0.2 s. There was no change in the excursion interval wit h emptying. The excursion amplitude decreased from 33 +/- 3.9 mm immed iately post-meal ingestion to 13 +/- 1.5 mm at 90 min (r(2) = 0.62 +/- 0.07). The ratio between the excursion amplitude and circumference of the relaxed antrum changed only slightly with time (slope = 0.0009 +/ - 0.00003). Comparison of repeat studies in 10 volunteers showed a low intra-individual variation for postprandial antral circumference and excursion amplitude.