Pre- and postoperative electrogastrography in patients with gastric cancer

To investigate the changes of electrogastrography (EGG) after stomach resection, fasting and postprandial EGG were recorded in 10 volunteers and 23 gastric cancer patients who had undergone total or subtotal gastrectomy.

EGG signals in patients were recorded before and after surgery and were analyzed by power spectrum.

The power spectrum components at three cycles/minute (cpm) as normal subject, had completely disappeared in all patients after total gastrectomy, and irregular powers, especially under 9 cpm, had increased. These results suggest that the activity of the 3-cpm component is specific for the stomach. In subtotal gastrectomy patients, 3-cpm power peaks were clearly observed in seven of twelve patients, but it was not recorded in the remaining five patients, who showed irregular powers similar to that in patients after total gastrectomy. Therefore, it was speculated that the area containing the "pacemaker" of gastric electric potentials was removed during gastrectomy in these five patients. The postprandial dip, which is considered to reflect autonomic nervous function, was not observed in six of seven subtotal gastrectomy patients who demonstrated the 3-cpm component in their EGG, and it was speculated that the gastric branch of the vagus nerve in these six patients might have been partially removed by surgery.

These findings suggest that EGG is available as a non-invasive method to evaluate the motility and autonomic function of the remnant stomach after gastrectomy.