Abstract:
Objective To investigate, using gastric filling contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, the association between blood glucose levels and gastric motility impairment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and to establish a quantitative evaluation model linking gastric motility parameters with blood glucose levels.
Methods A case-control study design was adopted. A total of 56 patients with T2DM who visited the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College between January and June 2024 were enrolled, along with 62 healthy controls matched for gender, age and BMI during the same period. For T2DM patients, medical history and clinical indices including glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and 2-hour postprandial glucose (2hPG) were collected. After all participants ingested 500 mL of a gastrointestinal contrast agent, gastric motility parameters, including the cardia, gastric emptying rate (GER), gastric wall strain rate, gastric peristaltic velocity, and the gastric motility index (GMI), were observed and analyzed.
Results In the T2DM group, immediate peristaltic velocity, gastric wall strain rate, GMI, proximal gastric short-axis transverse diameter, and gastric contractile strength were all lower than those in the control group, and GER at 10-40 minutes was also lower (all P < 0.05). Among T2DM patients, those with complications had lower distal GER at 10 minutes and lower antral GER at 30 minutes than those without complications (all P < 0.05). Among T2DM patients, those with FPG ≤10 mmol/L had higher antral GER at 10 and 20 minutes than those with FPG > 10 mmol/L (all P < 0.05). Those with HbA1c ≤8.5% had higher distal GER at 10 minutes and higher antral GER at 20 minutes than those with HbA1c > 8.5% (all P < 0.05). In the T2DM group, 2hPG was positively correlated with proximal GER at 20 minutes, distal GER at 20 minutes, proximal GER at 30 minutes, and distal GER at 30 minutes (all P < 0.05).
Conclusions When blood glucose levels exceed thresholds (FPG > 10 mmol/L; HbA1c > 8.5%), gastric motility impairment in T2DM patients worsens, and gastric emptying is generally delayed compared with healthy individuals. A quantitative correlation model between gastric motility parameters and blood glucose levels may provide new potential targets for the combined application of gastric motility-modulating agents within individualized glycemic control strategies.