Measurement of gastric emptying rate in humans. Simplified scanning method.

Simultaneous measurements of the gastric emptying rate of the solid and liquid phase of a dual-isotope-labeled test meal were made using a gamma camera and a simple scintillation detector, similar to that used in a hand-held probe. A simple scanning apparatus, similar to that used in a hand-held scintillation probe, was compared with simultaneous measurements made by a gamma camera in 16 healthy males. A dual-labeled test meal was utilized to measure liquid and solid emptying simultaneously. Anterior and posterior scans were taken at intervals up to 120 min using both a gamma camera and the scintillation probe. Good relative agreement between the methods was obtained both for solid-phase (correlation range 0.92-0.99, mean 0.97) and for liquid-phase data (correlation range 0.93-0.99, mean 0.97). For solid emptying data regression line slopes varied from 0.75 to 1.03 (mean 0.84). Liquid emptying data indicated that slopes ranged from 0.71 to 1.06 (mean 0.87). These results suggested that an estimate of the gamma measurement could be obtained by multiplying the scintillation measurement by a factor of 0.84 for the solid phase and 0.87 for the liquid phase. Correlation between repeat studies was 0.97 and 0.96 for solids and liquids, respectively. The application of a hand-held probe technique provides a noninvasive and inexpensive method for accurately assessing solid- and liquid-phase gastric emptying from the human stomach that correlates well with the use of a gamma camera, within the range of gastric emptying rate in the normal individuals in this study.