GASTRIC MOTILITY HYPOTESIS

The publication is based on a retrospective analysis of 344 radiological studies of the upper digestive tract and analysis of the literature. We propose the hypothesis of the gastric motility, based on the following points: 1) The gastric cardia is the intra-abdominal portion of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Its tone increases in response to the increasing pressure in the stomach. 2) in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), the cardia cannot withstand the pressure and subsequently opens. Depending on the degree of insufficiency of the LES and the force applied during provocative test, angular deformity of the stomach appears, due to the shortening of LES as well as a downsizing of the gas bubble in the stomach; 3) Pyloric sphincter (PS) is a true sphincter. Evacuation from the stomach is the result of the opening of the PS due to increase of antral pressure above the "threshold" level; 4) The evacuation starts in the upright position, when the liquid chyme above PS creates hydrostatic pressure above the threshold; 5) When hydrostatic pressure is reduced below the threshold level or in the recumbent position the antral pressure is created by the clamping of deep peristaltic wave and formation of the closed antral cavity; 6) The portioned evacuation is provided in two ways; a) the volume of antral cavity corresponds to the volume of duodenal bulb; b) in upright position after filling of the duodenal bulb the postbulbar sphincter is closed, whereby the pressure in the bulb rises, which leads to a reflex contraction of the PS and cessation of the e stomach emptying.