Impaired vagal activity to meal in patients with functional dyspepsia and delayed gastric emptying

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to investigate impaired vagal activity to meal in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) with delayed gastric emptying (GE). METHODS: Eighty-five patients were studied. GE parameters, including those in the overall and proximal stomach, were measured by GE functional tests at the Department of Nuclear Medicine. Autonomic nervous function was tested by spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). The vagal activity and sympathetic activity were analyzed by recording the power in the high-frequency component (HF), low-frequency component (LF), and LF/HF ratio. RESULTS: Overall and proximal GE were delayed in 47.2% and 50.9% of the patients, respectively. Spectral analysis of HRV showed that the HF in patients with delayed proximal GE was significantly lower and that the LF/HF ratio was significantly higher than those in patients with normal proximal GE after a meal. CONCLUSION: Delayed proximal GE might be caused by disrupted sympathovagal balance as a result of decreased vagal activity after a meal. Improvement in vagal activity may constitute an effective treatment method for patients with FD.