Antroduodenal motility in chronic pancreatitis: are abnormalities related to exocrine insufficiency?

In patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) the relation among exocrine panc reatic secretion, gastrointestinal hormone release, and motility: is distur bed. We studied digestive and interdigestive antroduodenal motility and pos tprandial gut hormone release in 26 patients with CP. Fifteen of these pati ents had pancreatic insufficiency (PI) established by urinary para-aminoben zoic acid test and:fecal fat excretion. Antroduodenal motility, was recorde d after ingestion of a mixed liquid meal. The effect of pancreatic enzyme s upplementation was studied In 8 of the 15 CP patients with PI. The duration of the postprandial antroduodenal motor pattern was significantly (P < 0.0 1) prolonged in CP patients (324 +/- 20 min) compared with controls (215 +/ - 19 min). Antral motility indexes in the first hour after meal ingestion w ere significantly reduced in CP patients. The interdigestive migrating moto r complex cycle length was significantly (P < 0.01) shorter in CP patients (90 +/- 8 min) compared with controls (129 +/- 8 min). These abnormalities were more pronounced in CP patients with exocrine PI. After supplementation of pancreatic enzymes, these alterations in motility reverted toward norma l. Digestive and interdigestive antroduodenal motility are abnormal in pati ents with CP but significantly different from controls only in those with e xocrine PI. These abnormalities in antroduodenal motility in CP are related to maldigestion.