Multi-channel gastric electrical stimulation for the acceleration of gastric emptying

The aims of this study were to investigate the efficiency and efficacy of multi-channel gastric electrical stimulation. Two experiments were performed in healthy female hound dogs. In experiment 1, entrainment by using multi-channel simulation was investigated and the optimized parameters for entrainment were found. The total energy for 4 channels to entrain the entire stomach was 112 ms/spl times/mA. With the single channel stimulation, this value was 3000 ms/spl times/mA and the stomach was only partially entrained. In experiment 2, liquid gastric emptying was performed to compare the effect of single channel stimulation and multi-channel stimulation on liquid emptying. It was found that, by using multi-channel stimulation, liquid gastric emptying was significantly improved. At 60 min after feeding, the total emptied volume of liquids with multi-channel stimulation was significantly higher than that in the control session (241.0/spl plusmn/21.6 ml vs. 190.8/spl plusmn/30.2 ml, p<0.05), but no significant difference between the control and single-channel electrical stimulation (190.8/spl plusmn/30.2 vs. 197.2/spl plusmn/38.0 ml). Multi-channel gastric electrical stimulation is found to be more efficient and more effective than single stimulation.