Dynamic changes in early gastric cantrum motility in craniocerebral injury patients

Objective To investigate the dynamic changes in early gastric antrum contraction in patients with craniocerebral injury. Methods The patients with craniocerebral injury admitted to neurosurgery intensive care unit (ICU) of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from July to November in 2018 were enrolled. The changes in antral contraction frequency (ACF), antral contraction amplitude (ACA) and antral motility index (MI) were dynamically observed at 1-6 days after injury by ultrasonography. According to Glasgow coma score (GCS), the patients were divided into moderate to severe craniocerebral (GCS ≤ 11) and mild craniocerebral injury groups (GCS > 11). The differences in ACF, ACA and MI between the two groups were compared to observe the effect of craniocerebral injury on gastric antral motility. The patients were divided into simple supratentorial and supratentorial combined infratentorial lesion groups according to the lesion location of craniocerebral injury. The differences in ACF, ACA and MI between the two groups were compared to analyze the influence of lesion location on gastric antrum activity. Results A total of 68 patients with craniocerebral injury were screened during the study period, 50 patients were in accorded with the admission criteria, 17 patients were withdrawn from the observation because they could not tolerate the ultrasonography of gastric antrum or discharged from ICU. Finally, 33 patients were enrolled in the analysis. ① The ACF, ACA and MI at 1 day after injury were lower [ACF (times/min): 1.67 (0.00, 2.00), ACA: 42.06 (0.00, 44.45)%, MI: 0.70 (0.00, 0.87)], and then gradually increased, till 6 days after injury, ACF was 1.83 (1.25, 2.79) times/min, ACA was 56.80 (33.25, 60.77)%, and MI was 0.89 (0.50, 1.70), which showed no differences among all time points (all P > 0.05). ② The contractile function of gastric antrum in two groups of patients with different degrees of craniocerebral injury was decreased, especially ACA in patients with moderate to severe craniocerebral injury (n = 22), which showed significant differences at 3 days and 5 days after injury as compared with mild craniocerebral injury [n = 11; 3 days: 35.05 (0.00, 53.69)% vs. 58.51 (49.90, 65.45)%, 5 days: 39.88 (0.00, 77.01)% vs. 56.94 (41.71, 66.66)%, both P 0.05), indicating that the lesion location might not affect the contractive function of gastric antrum. Conclusion In the early stage of craniocerebral injury, the contractile function of gastric antrum was decreased, and the more severe the craniocerebral injury, the worse contractive function of gastric antrum. Key words: Craniocerebral injury; Antral contraction; Enteral nutrition; Antral ultrasonography