Esophageal and gastric dysmotility in non ulcer dyspepsia.
BACKGROUND
The pathophysiology of non ulcer dyspepsia is poorly understood. Data on gastrointestinal motility alterations in this condition in the Indian population are scanty. We studied esophageal and gastric motility in patients with non ulcer dyspepsia.


METHODS
58 consecutive patients with non ulcer dyspepsia (according to the Rome criteria) were studied; 10 healthy volunteers were studied as controls. Esophageal transit of solid and liquid boluses (in all patients) and solid-phase gastric emptying (in 20 patients) were studied using scintigraphic techniques.


RESULTS
Delayed esophageal transit and delayed gastric emptying were observed in 32 (55%) and 9 (45%) patients, respectively. Delay of both esophageal and gastric transit was found in 5 patients. Mean (SD) esophageal transit for liquid bolus was significantly delayed in patients (9.3 [3.7] s) compared to controls (7.0 [2.0] s; p < 0.01). Mean (SD) gastric emptying time (T50) was significantly delayed in patients (61.6 [13.6] min) compared to controls (50.0 [5.0] min; p < 0.001). Esophageal and gastric delayed transit was found in about two thirds of patients with dysmotility-like dyspepsia, but there were no significant difference in these abnormalities among different subgroups of dyspepsia.


CONCLUSIONS
High prevalence of esophageal and gastric transit delay was found in non ulcer dyspepsia, particularly in the dysmotility subgroup.
Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Calcutta.
S
S
Chaudhuri
A
A
Santra
P B
PB
Dobe
A S
AS
Das
J
J
Dasgupta
A
A
Roy
D N
DN
Mazumder
D000328:Adult; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015154:Esophageal Motility Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005746:Gastric Emptying; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D012016:Reference Values; D014463:Ultrasonography