Abnormality of Gastric Liquid Emptying and Sensory Threshold in Patients with Functional Dyspepsia

Background/Aims: To study the relationship between gastric liquid emptying and gastric sensory threshold in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD). Methods: Gastric liquid emptying was measured by ultrasonography in 68 FD patients and 29 healthy controls after drinking 500 ml water. Upper abdominal discomfort and the volume of water drinking at the same time were recorded. This volume was regarded as the minimal sensory threshold. Results: The average time of 50% gastric liquid emptying in patients with FD (31.06 min ± 10.29 min) was longer than that in healthy controls (24.63 min ±4.86 min, P0 .001), the sensory threshold of stomach was also lower (412.50 ml±94.47 ml) than that in volunteers (478.33 ml± 35.78 ml, P 0.001). 50% FD patients (34/68) had gastric hypersensitivity. The relevance analysis of gastric sensory threshold and the time of 50% gastric liquid emptying showed that the lower the sensory threshold in patients, the longer the delay of gastric emptying. Conclusions: The patients with FD have not only delayed gastric liquid emptying, but also gastric hypersen sitivity, which is related to delay of gastric liquid emptying.