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World J Meta-Anal. Mar 28, 2020; 8(2): 109-118
Published online Mar 28, 2020. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v8.i2.109
Utility of gastrointestinal ultrasound in functional gastrointestinal disorders: A narrative review
Andrew Ming-Liang Ong
Andrew Ming-Liang Ong, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169856, Singapore
Andrew Ming-Liang Ong, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore
Author contributions: Ong AML performed the research, wrote the manuscript and performed the editing work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Andrew Ming-Liang Ong, MBChB, MRCP, Assistant Professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Singapore General Hospital, 20 College Road, Level 3, Academia Building, Singapore 169856, Singapore. andrew.ong.m.l@singhealth.com.sg
Received: November 18, 2019
Peer-review started: November 18, 2019
First decision: December 7, 2019
Revised: February 5, 2020
Accepted: March 9, 2020
Article in press: March 9, 2020
Published online: March 28, 2020
Processing time: 162 Days and 6.1 Hours
Abstract

Gastrointestinal (GI) ultrasound (GIUS) is valuable in the evaluation of GI diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, but its use in functional GI disorders (FGIDs) is largely unknown although promising. In order to review the current knowledge on current and potential uses of GIUS in FGIDs, information was obtained via a structured literature search through PubMed, EMBASE and Google Scholar databases with a combination of MESH and keyword search terms: “ultrasound”, “functional GI disorders”, “irritable bowel syndrome”, “functional dyspepsia”, “intestinal ultrasound”, “point of care ultrasonography”, “transabdominal sonography”, “motility”, “faecal loading”, “constipation”. GIUS is currently used for various settings involving upper and lower GI tracts, including excluding organic diseases, evaluating physiology, guiding treatment options and building rapport with patients. GIUS can be potentially used to correlate mechanisms with symptoms, evaluate mechanisms behind treatment efficacy, and investigate further the origin of symptoms in real-time. In conclusion, GIUS is unique in its real-time, interactive and non-invasive nature, with the ability of evaluating several physiological mechanisms with one test, thus making it attractive in the evaluation and management of FGIDs. However, there are still limitations and concerns of operator dependence and lack of validation data for widespread implementation of GIUS in FGIDs.

Keywords: Ultrasound; Functional gastrointestinal disorders; Irritable bowel syndrome; Functional dyspepsia; Constipation

Core tip: Functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders are extremely common for every gastroenterologist. However, they are largely a heterogenous group of conditions and we do not have reliable modalities of investigational tools to evaluate origin of symptoms. GI ultrasound has increasing value for the evaluation of GI diseases. We are the first to perform a review on this topic of the utility of GI ultrasound in functional GI disorders. Our results show that though the potential uses are promising, more validation data is needed for widespread implementation.