American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology
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Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. · Mar 2013
Antral recirculation in the stomach during gastric mixing.
We investigate flow in the stomach during gastric mixing using a numerical simulation with an anatomically realistic geometry and free-surface flow modeling. Because of momentum differences between greater and lesser curvatures during peristaltic contractions, time-averaged recirculation is generated in the antrum, with retropulsive flow away from the pylorus and compensation flow along the greater curvature toward the pylorus. Gastric content in the distal stomach is continuously transported to the distal antrum by the forward flow of antral recirculation, and it is then mixed by the backward retropulsive flow. ⋯ In the upright, prone, and right lateral positions, most of the antrum is filled with content, and the content is well mixed by antral recirculation. In contrast, in the supine and left lateral positions, most of the content is located outside antral recirculation, which results in poor mixing. The curved, twisted shape of the stomach substantially supports gastric mixing in fluid mechanical terms.