Evaluation of gastrointestinal motility by computerized analysis of abdominal auscultation findings

To evaluate gastrointestinal motility by abdominal auscultation.

Abdominal auscultated sounds of 20 healthy adults and 10 diabetes mellitus patients with delayed gastric emptying were digitally recorded and then analyzed by computer while simultaneously monitoring the motility of the antrum of the stomach by ultrasonography. The auscultated sound, when the stomach wall was moving, was regarded as the gastroduodenal (GD) sound and when not moving as the intestinal (I) sound. The sound index (SI; the sum of the amplitude) was calculated to indicate the power of sound. Sounds were recorded for 15 min under fasting conditions and 60 min after a liquid meal. In six healthy adults, the gastroduodenal pressure was recorded under abdominal auscultation to detect any correlation between the motility index (MI; the sum of the area under the curve) and SI.

A definite increase in the SI of the GD sound was observed after the liquid meal in comparison with that of the I sound. A positive correlation (r = 0.678) was observed between the SI of the GD sound and MI, thus, it was considered that the GD sound reflected the motility of the gastroduodenal wall. In the diabetes mellitus patients, the SI of the GD sound was significantly lower after food intake than in healthy adults.

The results of the present study indicate that the abdominal auscultation test could be used as a new diagnostic method to detect any abnormality in gastrointestinal motility.