Normative values for gastric motility assessed with the 3D‐transit electromagnetic tracking system

• Published in: Neurogastroenterology and motility Vol. 32; no. 6; pp. e13829 - n/a
• Main Authors: Sutter, Nanna, Klinge, Mette Winther, Mark, Esben Bolvig, Nandhra, Gursharan, Haase, Anne‐Mette, Poulsen, Jakob, Knudsen, Karoline, Borghammer, Per, Schlageter, Vincent, Birch, Malcolm, Scott, S. Mark, Drewes, Asbjørn Mohr, Krogh, Klaus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.06.2020
• Subjects: Calories; Gastric emptying; Gastric motility; gastroenterology; gastrointestinal motility; Gastrointestinal tract; Motility; neurogastroenterology; gastrointestinal motility; neurogastroenterology; gastric motility; gastroenterology
• ISSN: 1350-1925; 1365-2982; 1365-2982
• DOI: 10.1111/nmo.13829

Background The Motilis 3D‐Transit system allows ambulatory description of transit patterns throughout the gastrointestinal tract and offers an alternative method for studying gastric motility. We aimed to establish normative values for gastric motility assessed with the method. Method A total of 132 healthy volunteers ingested the 3D‐Transit capsule for assessment of gastrointestinal transit times. Recordings from 125 subjects were used for definition of normative values. Forty‐six subjects were studied on two consecutive days. Recordings were reanalyzed using newly developed software providing information on gastric emptying (GE) as well as contraction frequency and movement during gastric contractions. Results The median GE time was 2.7 hours (range 0.1‐21.2). In 89% of subjects, the capsule passed the pylorus within a postingestion period of 6 hours. The median frequency of gastric contractions was 3.1 per minute (range 2.6‐3.8). The frequency was higher in women (3.2, range 2.7‐3.8) than in men (3.0, range 2.6‐3.5) and increased with age (0.004 per year) (P < .05). The median amplitudes were 35° (range 4‐85) when based on rotation of the capsule and 11 mm (range 6‐31) when based on capsule change in position. The rotation amplitude was higher in women and decreased with increasing BMI (P < .05). The position amplitude was also higher in women and increased with the amount of calories in the test meal, but decreased with increasing BMI and age (P < .05). Day‐to‐day variation (P > .05) was considerable while inter‐rater variability was small. Conclusion and Inferences We have established normative values for gastric motility assessed with the 3D‐Transit system. The Motilis 3D‐Transit system allows ambulatory description of transit patterns throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Using the 3D‐transit system, we have established normative values for gastric motility patterns. Gastric emptying time was not associated with age, gender, BMI, or the minor differences in the composition of the meal given with the capsule. In contrast, the contraction frequency was affected by gender and age while position and rotation amplitudes were associated with gender, BMI, and calorific content of the meal. This has to be considered when future studies with the 3D‐Transit system are designed.