Electrogastrographic observations in healthy adults

Abstract

INTRODUCTION : Electrogastrography (EGG) is a recently developed non invasive technique of recording gastric myoelectrical activity. Normal values of EGG parameters are yet to be clearly defined. There are suggestions that the values may vary due to factors such as gender and ethnicity. AIM : To determine normal values for several EGG parameters in healthy Sri - Lankan volunteers in the fasting and fed state, and we also hypothesized that, there are significant differences in these between the two sexes. METHOD : EGG was performed in 17 healthy volunteers, 8 males(age 21 -60 yr.) and 9 females(age 24 - 46 yr.) in the follicular phase for one hour each in the fasting and the fed states. Result were analyzed using the statistical package Epilnfo. RESULTS : The mean gastric electrical frequency was 2.65 + 0.67 cpm in the fasting and 2.69 + 0.75 in the fed state. The dominant frequency was in the 2 -4 cpm range in 15 (88.2%) subjects in the fasting and in 14(87.5%) in the fed state respectively. These differences were not statistically significant. Feeding caused an increase in the power of the dominant frequency by 19 - 4600 uV2 in 12(75%) subjects. The above results did not differ significantly between the two sexes. CONCLUSIONS : The dominant gastric electrical frequency in Sri Lankans was consistent with previously reported data from other countries. Increase in EGG power after a solid meal was confirmed by the study. Although a gender difference in EGG parameters has been reported previously, our reports failed to demonstrate such a difference.