GASTRIC MYOELECTRICAL ACTIVITY IN HEALTHY-CHILDREN AND CHILDREN WITH FUNCTIONAL DYSPEPSIA

The aim of this study was to investigate abnormalities in pediatric pa tients with functional dyspepsia. Fifteen symptomatic pediatric patien ts diagnosed with functional dyspepsia and 17 aged-matched healthy con trols were studied. Gastric myoelectrical activity was recorded using surface electrogastrography for 1 hr in the fasting state and 1 hr aft er a test meal. It was found that, in comparison with the controls, th e children with functional dyspepsia had a lower percentage of 2- to 4 -cpm slow waves in both fasting state (66.0 +/- 4.7% vs 79.7 +/- 3.1%, P < 0.07) and fed state (72.4 +/- 5.4% vs 85.0 +/- 2.9%, P < 0.04), a nd a significantly higher instability of the dominant frequency in bot h fasting state (0.50 +/- 0.05 vs 0.31 +/- 0.04, P < 0.01) and fed sta te (0.39 +/- 0.05 vs 0.25 +/- 0.03, P < 0.05). It was also found the p ostprandial increase in EGG dominant power in the patients was inverse ly correlated with the total symptom score (r = 0.63, P = 0.03). It wa s concluded that abnormal gastric myoelectrical activity may play a ro le in the pathogenesis of pediatric functional dyspepsia.