Ultrasound Measurement in M Mode of Peristalsis and Gastric Emptying

Abstract

Abstract-The use of ultrasound equipment in routine clinical evaluation of the gastrointestinal tract is still standby. Objective: to show an alternative application of ultrasound technique for monitoring peristalsis and gastric emptying through an executable routine implemented in LabVIEW. Methods: an ultrasound equipment (Medison SONACE 800 SE) was used in ten healthy subjects and four patients; dominant peristalsis frequency and gastric emptying were measured after fasting nights of the patients; subjects ingested, first 300 mL of water and then a solid meal (240 kCal). Results: the video acquisition in M mode and imaging processing were performed in a LabVIEW platform, as long as digital signal processing was carried out in matlab 2008a; peristaltic frequency of 2.4 cpm (cycles per minute) and a half time of the gastric emptying around 35 s were found. Discussion: these findings are congruent with similar evaluations of GI tract obtained by using the gold standard technique. So, ultrasound technique is now an alternative procedure for gastric evaluation with the advantage that patients are free of ionizing radiation, and these equipments are amply available in the world hospitals.

Ultrasound imaging for assessing functions of the GI tract

“…has been widely used to assess gastric emptying rates(Bateman and Whittingham 1982, Bolondi et al 1985, Holt et al 1986, Desaga and Hixt 1987, Duan et al 1993, Ricci et al 1993, Cordova-Fraga et al 2012, and good correlation to radionuclide estimates of emptying rates have been detected(Bolondi et al 1985, Tympner et al 1986, Marzio et al 1989, Jones et al 1997. It has a broad range of applications.…”