IMPAIRED POSTPRANDIAL GASTRIC SLOW WAVES IN PATIENTS WITH FUNCTIONAL DYSPEPSIA

The aim of this study was to investigate gastric myoelectrical activit y in patients with functional dyspepsia. Thirteen healthy subjects and 14 patients with functional dyspepsia participated in the study. The electrogastrogram (EGG) recording was made in each subject for 30 min in the fasting stale and 120 min after a standard test meal of 435 cal ories. Spectral analysis methods were applied to derive quantitative E GG parameters. There was no difference in the EGG between the patients and controls in the fasting state. However, abnormalities in the post prandial EGG were found in the patients. The percentage of 2-4 cpm wav es was significantly lower (74.4 +/- 4.0% vs 85.7 +/- 1.6%, P < 0.03) and the postprandial increase in EGG dominant power was significantly less (-0.52 +/- 0.92 dB vs 2.24 +/- 0.58 dB, P < 0.03) in patients tha n in controls. It was also found that the percentage of postprandial 2 -4 cpm waves could be used to differentiate the patients with function al dyspepsia from the healthy controls with a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 43%. It was concluded that a subset of patients with functional dyspepsia have impaired gastric myoelectrical activity in t he fed state.