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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 296/4/G709    most recent 90318.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hocke, M. Articles by Stallmach, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hocke, M. Articles by Stallmach, A.

NEUROREGULATION AND MOTILITY

Every slow-wave impulse is associated with motor activity of the human stomach

¹Clinic of Internal Medicine II, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, ²Innovent Jena, Germany; and ³Israelitic Hospital, Academic Hospital University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Submitted 2 May 2008 ; accepted in final form 8 December 2008

Using a newly developed high-resolution three-dimensional magnetic detector system (3D-MAGMA), we observed periodical movements of a small magnetic marker in the human stomach at the typical gastric slow-wave frequency, that is 3 min^–1. Thus we hypothesized that each gastric slow wave induces a motor response that is not strong enough to be detected by conventional methods. Electrogastrographies (EGG, Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) for measurement of gastric slow waves and 3D-MAGMA (Innovent, Jena, Germany) measurements were simultaneously performed in 21 healthy volunteers (10 men, 40.4 ± 13.6 yr; 11 women, 35.8 ± 11.6 yr). The 3D-MAGMA system contains 27 highly sensitive magnetic field sensors that are able to locate a magnetic pill inside a human body with an accuracy of ±5 mm or less in position and ±2° in orientation at a frequency of 50 Hz. Gastric transit time of the magnetic marker ranged from 19 to 154 min. The mean dominant EGG frequency while the marker was in the stomach was 2.87 ± 0.15 cpm. The mean dominant 3D-MAGMA frequency during this interval was nearly identical; that is, 2.85 ± 0.15 movements per minute. We observed a strong linear correlation between individual dominant EGG and 3D-MAGMA frequency (R = 0.66, P = 0.0011). Our findings suggest that each gastric slow wave induces a minute contraction that is too small to be detected by conventional motility investigations but can be recorded by the 3D-MAGMA system. The present slow-wave theory that assumes that the slow wave is a pure electrical signal should be reconsidered.

electrogastrography; pacemaker; magnetic marker; magnetic monitoring; 3D-MAGMA