Sonographic examination of gastric motility in diabetics with autonomic neuropathy.

The frequency, intensity and velocity of antral contractions were measured by ultrasonography in 32 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and in 12 controls before and up to 60 min after a test breakfast. The examination showed that motility was lower in the diabetics with autonomic neuropathy than in those without and in the non-diabetic controls. The frequency of contractions was determined in the 3 groups as follows: 3.6 +/- 2.0 vs. 4.8 +/- 1.7 vs. 4.8 +/- 1.6 contractions per 2 min (p less than 0.0025); the intensity of contractions was 30.9 +/- 8.2 vs. 41.4 +/- 5.2 vs. 57.5 +/- 8.8 delta % of antral area (p less than 0.025, resp. p less than 0.0005); the velocity of contractions was 4.8 +/- 1.5 vs. 8.2 +/- 1.2 vs. 9.95 + 2.8 delta % of antral area/sec (p less than 0.0125 resp. p less than 0.005). There was a significant difference in the intensity and velocity of contractions between the patients without autonomic neuropathy and the non-diabetic controls (p less than 0.0025 resp. p less than 0.025). 10 min after the test breakfast the motility indices reached a maximum and then decreased continuously towards the end of the test period (p less than 0.01). 20 min after the test meal this decrease was significantly faster in the patients with autonomic neuropathy than in those without and in controls. In all the diabetics the velocity was positively correlated to the coefficient of the variation from beat to beat of the heart, and also positively correlated to the increase of blood glucose concentrations (p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)