Abnormalities of interdigestive motility of the small intestine in patients with Chagas' disease.

The fasting motor activity of the upper small intestine was studied in 36 patients with chronic Chagas' disease, which is known to be associated with extensive lesions of the myenteric plexuses, and the results compared with those obtained in 15 control subjects. The migrating motor complex (MMC) was detected as frequently in the Chagas' disease group as in the control group, and the frequency of contractions during the activity front was virtually the same in the two groups. In the Chagas' group the propagation of the activity fronts was slower, their duration was longer in the jejunum, but not in the duodenum, and the calculated length was shorter than normal. Chagas' disease patients without clinical manifestation or x-ray pathology of the digestive tract had no abnormalities of the MMC. These findings suggest that the intramural nervous system of the gut plays a role in the normal migration of the MMCs along the small intestine.