Fasting and postprandial analysis of bowel sounds and plasma 5-hydroxytryptamine level

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Auscultation of bowel sounds is a traditional technique for evaluating patients with abdominal symptoms. It is, however, subjective and qualitative method in general. Recently, analysis of bowel sounds becomes possible. We analyzed bowel sounds in healthy volunteers and measured platelet depleted plasma 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) that may be associated with postprandial symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome. METHODS: We recorded both fasting and postprandial bowel sounds for 30 minutes in 16 healthy volunteers with a sensitive electronic stethoscope attached to a digital recorder. The files were saved in computer as wav files and analyzed with a specialized program. Blood samples were also taken before and 1 hour after meal for 5-HT analysis. RESULTS: Meal challenge made no statistically significant changes in the 5-HT concentrations and all the sound parameters including sound to sound interval, sounds/minute, average of sound amplitudes, sound length, percentage of bowel sounds representing sound clustering and dominant frequency of sounds. CONCLUSIONS: Postprandial changes in bowel sounds and plasma 5-HT were insignificant in healthy Korean volunteers.