Antral gastric motility impairement and autonomic nervous system dysfunction in patients with pancreatic cancer (preliminary results).

The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of pancreatic carcinoma on gastric motility and autonomic system activity in patients before surgery. Patients with histologically confirmed pancreatic cancer were studied. Our results show that gastric dysrrhythmias are continuously present in patients with pancreatic cancer both with and without gastric emptying delay. Antral distribution of meal suggests the presence of impaired proximal gastric response to meal due to diminished autonomic nervous system function and impaired myoelectric gastric activity in patients with pancreatic cancer.