title: Gastric accommodation studied by ultrasonography in patients with reflux esophagitis.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate gastric accommodation to a meal in patients with reflux esophagitis using ultrasonography. Twenty consecutive patients with reflux esophagitis of grade I (14) or II (6) and 20 healthy subjects underwent ultrasonographic measurements of the stomach before and after ingestion of a 500 ml soup meal. Reflux esophagitis patients revealed a significantly larger sagittal area of the proximal stomach at 5 min (P = 0.002) and 15 min (P = 0.007) postprandially and experienced more epigastric fullness after the meal (P = 0.0006). Postprandial fullness and sagittal area of the proximal stomach correlated significantly (r = 0.69; P = 0.0007). We conclude that patients with mild or moderate reflux esophagitis have a larger sagittal area of the proximal stomach and more postprandial fullness in response to a soup meal than healthy subjects. Postprandial distension of the proximal stomach may be a pathogenetic factor in reflux esophagitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Haukeland Hospital, University of Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tefera
authors.forename: O H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Gilja
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Hatlebakk
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berstad
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D004942:Esophagitis, Peptic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019518:Postprandial Period; D013270:Stomach / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014463:Ultrasonography