Gastric emptying of liquid before and after gastroplasty for morbid obesity.

Gastric emptying of a liquid meal was investigated with a radionuclide method before and 1 week and 3 and 12 months after gastroplasty operation for morbid obesity. Gastroplasty results in a small proximal pouch with a narrow stoma to the remaining stomach. The total gastric emptying was delayed 3 months after gastroplasty (p less than 0.01). Twelve months after gastroplasty, emptying of the proximal pouch was faster than at 3 months (p less than 0.01). This may indicate dilatation of the stoma between the two gastric pouches during this period. Surprisingly, the total gastric emptying 12 months after gastroplasty was not only faster than at 3 months but also faster than before surgery. The explanation, therefore, cannot only be attributed to a dilated stoma, and hormonal mechanisms may be involved. A lack of correlation between preoperative weight and emptying was observed, but because the material consists of only obese subjects, no conclusion can be drawn about the postulated role of gastric emptying in developing obesity. Emptying of the total stomach and of the proximal pouch failed to correlate with postoperative weight losses. The weight loss after gastroplasty evidently bears little, if any, relation to the postoperative changes in gastric emptying of liquids.