Patients with dyspepsia have impaired mucosal integrity both in the duodenum and jejunum: in vivo assessment of small bowel mucosal integrity using baseline impedance

Background Recent studies reported that impaired proximal duodenal mucosa, assessed by duodenal biopsy, could play an important role in the development of dyspeptic symptoms. The aims of this study were (a) to develop a method to measure “in vivo” duodenal and jejunal baseline impedance (BI) and (b) to assess small bowel mucosal integrity in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) and healthy controls (HC). Methods We recruited 16 patients with FD and 15 HC. All subjects underwent ambulatory duodeno-jejunal manometry combined with impedance (HRM/Z), BI were determined by measuring impedance immediately after the passage of nocturnal migrating motor complex (MMC) phase IIIs. Results The number of MMC phase IIIs in FD was significantly lower than that in HC (2.6 ± 1.4 vs 4.8 ± 1.7, p