Real-time visualization of altered gastric motility by magnetic resonance imaging in patients with Parkinson's disease

Gastrointestinal motility is frequently affected in Parkinson's disease (PD) and has even been reported in early stages of PD. We hypothesized that gastric motility can be assessed in vivo by real‐time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), an established, noninvasive method. After an overnight fast and a standardized test meal, 10 patients with PD (six drug naïve, four treated) and 10 healthy volunteers underwent real‐time MRI scanning of the stomach. Gastric motility was quantified by calculating the gastric motility indices (GMI) from transversal oblique und sagittal oblique MRI scans. There was a trend toward a decreased gastric motility in patients with PD compared with healthy controls (Mann‐Whitney test, P 0.059). This difference in peristalsis was due to a significant reduction in the amplitude of peristaltic contractions (P 0.029) and not to a decelerated velocity of the peristaltic waves (P 0.97). Real‐time MRI allows direct visualization of gastric motility in PD. In this pilot study, a relatively high interindividual variability impaired accurate separation of our PD sample from healthy controls. The trend toward decreased gastric motility is in accordance with previous studies that investigated gastric motility in patients with PD using other methods. Our study provides first demonstration of a possible underlying mechanism for disturbed gastric motility in PD (reduced amplitude of contractions versus altered velocity of peristaltic waves). Further studies in drug‐naïve PD patients are required to determine the discriminatory power and validity of this technique in PD. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society