Published online Aug 7, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i29.4774
Revised: July 3, 2013
Accepted: July 17, 2013
Published online: August 7, 2013
Processing time: 96 Days and 11.4 Hours
AIM: To assess the value of ultrasonography (US) in evaluation of proximal gastric accommodation disorder in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD).
METHODS: Between April 2011 and March 2012, 45 patients with FD and 27 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Two-dimensional ultrasound (2DUS) and 3-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) were performed sequentially to measure proximal gastric area (PGA), maximal proximal gastric diameter (MPGD), and proximal gastric volume (PGV). These values were measured separately in the two groups every other 5 min for a duration of 25 min after the beginning of ingestion of a test meal. Air pocket grading was done separately for images of 2DUS and blocks of 3DUS obtained at five scanning time points.
RESULTS: Both PGA and PGV of patients were significantly smaller than healthy controls (P = 0.000 and 0.002, respectively). Comparing the two parameters between the groups at each time point, the differences were also statistically significant (P = 0.000-0.013), except at 10 min for the PGV (P = 0.077). However, no overall difference was found between the groups in the MPGD measurements (P = 0.114), though it was statistically significant at a 20-minute examination point (P = 0.026). A total of 360 sets or blocks of images were obtained for both 2DUS and 3DUS. For the images analyzed by 2DUS, none were excluded because of gastric gas, and 50 (13.9%) and 310 (86.1%) sets were determined as air pockets grades 1 and 2, respectively. For the images analyzed by 3DUS, 23 (6.4%) blocks were excluded from the measurement due to presence of a large fundus air pocket (grade 3); fifty (13.9%) and 287 (79.7%) blocks were also graded as 1 and 2, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Measurement of both PGA and PGV by 2DUS and 3DUS could be useful for assessment of the proximal gastric accommodation.
Core tip: We adopted 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional ultrasonography to measure area and volume of the proximal stomach in patients with functional dyspepsia; a condition whereby patients can experience impaired gastric accommodation. Area and volume could be used to assess accommodation impairment, because both area and volume of the patients were smaller than the controls (P < 0.05). Therefore, the ultrasound measurement of gastric area and volume could help predict the functional dyspepsia.