Gastric Motility and Emptying in Cirrhotic Patients with Portal Hypersensitive Gastropathy

Abstract

Our aim was to clarify gastric motility and emptying in LC patients with PHG. A total of 30 LC patients (18 with mild gastropathy type, 12 with severe gastropathy type) with a mean age with 65.8 yr were enrolled and 17 healthy participants were recruited as the control group. Electrogastrography was performed to examine gastric motility in the fasting, nocturnal and 2 hr postprandial phase. Subsequently, patients with LC and control were performed to measure gastric emptying of solids with the breath test using 13C for labeling the octanoic acid. Breath samples were obtained every 15 to 30 minutes for 5 hours. The mean frequency of the EGG while fasting with severe PHG was significantly increased compared to mild PHG (p<0.05). The mean frequency of the EGG at 1-hr and 2-hr postprandially with severe PHG was significantly increased compared to mild PHG. The half time of GE with both mild and severe PHG was significantly increased compared to controls. Postprandial EGG and GE in LC patients would be affected by PHG.