Published online May 14, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i18.2825
Revised: March 28, 2006
Accepted: April 10, 2006
Published online: May 14, 2006
Gastric accommodation is important for the under-standing of the pathophysiology in functional dyspepsia and is also relevant for symptom generation in other disorders. The term gastric accommodation has at least three different meanings: The accommodation process, the accommodation reflex, and the accommodation response. The gastric accommodation process is a complex phenomenon that describes how the size of the gastric compartment changes in response to a meal. The electronic barostat is considered the gold standard in assessing gastric accommodation. Imaging methods, including MRI, SPECT, and ultrasonography may also be used, particularly in patients who are stress-responsive, e.g. functional dyspepsia patients, as a non-invasive and less stress-inducing method is favourable. Ultrasonography satisfies these criteria as it does not by itself distort the physiological response in stress-responsive individuals.