Abstract
Summary: Introduction: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune connective tissue disease with a chronic progressive course. Inflammation, vasculopathy and fibrosis play an important role in the pathogenesis of SSc.
Gastrointestinal tract belongs to the most commonly affected organ systems and its involvement can be observed in up to 90% of individuals. Clinical manifestations are associated with dysmotility of all segments of the gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach.
Electrogastrography (EGG) is a non-invasive method used for the assessment of gastric myoelectrical activity. Aim: The aim of this prospective study was to investigate EGG in SSc patients in detail, including the analysis of one-minute intervals and assessment of EGG power.
Method: The study included 33 patients that fulfilled SSc ACR/ EULAR classification criteria (5 men, 28 women; mean age 60 years). Patients suffered from a diffuse cutaneous form of SSc (dSSc) (n = 17), limited cutaneous form (lSSc) (n = 13) or they belonged to other subgroups (n = 3).
The gastric myoelectric activity was investigated by means of an EGG Stand (MMS, Enschede, The Netherlands). Results: Altogether 855 one-minute EGG intervals were evaluated, each one of them in dominant frequency, power and power ratio.
Only one patient had a completely normal EGG. The EGG of most patients showed bradygastria (17 subjects) or gastric arrhythmia with a predominance of bradygastria (6 patients).
The postprandial power decreased significantly. The power ratio was low in all intervals.
Conclusion: Bradygastria and the postprandial decrease of power were the most characteristic features. These findings were confirmed especially in dSSc subgroup.