Gastric emptying and electrogastrography in patients on CAPD

To evaluate if impaired gastric emptying of digestible solids can explain the disturbed eating behavior in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients, and if predialytic and dialytic (CAPD and hemodialysis) patients with impaired gastric emptying have a higher prevalence of electrogastrographic (EGG) abnormalities.

Cross-sectional study. After ingestion of a 99mTc-labeled test meal, anterior and posterior 1-minute scintigraphic acquisitions were collected every 5 minutes during the first 50 minutes and thereafter every 10 minutes until 2 hours had elapsed. Simultaneously, cutaneous EGG recorded gastric myoelectric activity.

The Division of Nephrology and the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the same academic teaching hospital.

Thirty outpatients participated in both the gastric emptying and the EGG studies. Dialysis patients should have been on dialysis for more than 3 months. For comparison, 160 healthy control subjects participated in the gastric emptying study.

The following parameters were used to describe gastric emptying: lag phase 90%, half-emptying time (T50), gastric retention at 90 and 120 minutes (Ret 90/120) and gastric emptying rate (GER, %/min). Electrogastrographic measurements were expressed as percentages of normal slow waves [2.4-3.6 cycles/min (cpm)], bradygastria (1.5-2.4 cpm), and tachygastria (3.6-10 cpm).

T50 was prolonged, Ret 90 and Ret 120 were higher, and GER was slower in male CAPD patients compared to male controls. No significant differences were found in postprandial EGG.

Gastric emptying is impaired in male non-diabetic CAPD patients. However, abnormalities in postprandial EGG cannot explain this finding.