Electrogastrography: a document prepared by the gastric section of the American Motility Society Clinical GI Motility Testing Task Force

Abstract

The objective of this document is to present the consensus opinion of the American Motility Society Clinical GI Motility Testing Task Force on the performance and clinical utility of electrogastrography (EGG). EGG is a non-invasive means of recording human gastric myoelectrical activity or slow waves from cutaneous leads placed over the stomach. In healthy volunteers, EGG tracings exhibit sinusoidal waveforms with a predominant frequency of 3 cycles per minute (cpm). Clinical studies have shown good correlation of these cutaneous recordings with those acquired from serosally implanted electrodes. The amplitude of the EGG waveform increases with ingestion of caloric or non-caloric meals. Some patients with nausea, vomiting, or other dyspeptic symptoms exhibit EGG rhythm disturbances or blunting of meal-evoked EGG signal amplitude increases. These abnormalities correlate to some degree with delayed gastric emptying of solids. In selected patients, EGG may be complementary to gastric emptying testing. To date, no therapies have convincingly demonstrated in controlled studies that correcting abnormalities detected by EGG improves upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Proposed clinical indications for performance of EGG in patients with unexplained nausea, vomiting and dyspeptic symptoms must be validated by prospective controlled investigations.