Gastric Alimetry body surface gastric mapping (BSGM) is a non-invasive diagnostic test that measures gastric motility [1]. BSGM uses a stretchable high-resolution array of electrodes, a wearable reader, and a validated symptom-logging app to evaluate gastric function 12. BSGM offers several novel and improved biomarkers of gastric function capable of differentiating patients with overlapping symptom-profiles [1,2].
A study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports compared the performance of two diagnostic tests, Electrogastrography (EGG) and Gastric Alimetry body surface gastric mapping (BSGM), in evaluating gastric motility [1]. The study found that BSGM showed substantial performance improvements across all domains compared to EGG, which has limited clinical utility [1]. BSGM demonstrated an 8× increase in the number of significant correlations with symptoms and a higher accuracy for patient-level classification compared to EGG [1].
In critical care medicine, BSGM might be used to evaluate gastric motility in patients with gastrointestinal dysmotility, gastroparesis, and other gastrointestinal disorders, but data are currently lacking [2,3].
1 Varghese C, Schamberg G, Calder S, Waite S, Carson D, Foong D, Wang WJ, Ho V, Woodhead J, Daker C, Xu W, Du P, Abell TL, Parkman HP, Tack J, Andrews CN, O’Grady G, Gharibans AA. Normative Values for Body Surface Gastric Mapping Evaluations of Gastric Motility Using Gastric Alimetry: Spectral Analysis. Am J Gastroenterol. 2023 Jun 1;118(6):1047-1057. doi: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000002077
2 O’Grady G, Du P, Cheng LK, Egbuji JU, Lammers WJ, Windsor JA et al. Origin and propagation of human gastric slow-wave activity defined by high-resolution mapping. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2010 May;298(5):G753-63.
3 Abell TL, Camilleri M, Donohoe K, Hasler WL, Lin HC, Maurer AH et al. Consensus recommendations for gastric emptying scintigraphy: a joint report of the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society and the Society of Nuclear Medicine. Am J Gastroenterol. 2008 Jan;103(3):753-63.