A simplified means of measuring the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide (STCO2) compared with the subjective and circulatory response to intrajejunal hypertonic glucose in the prediction of clinical dumpting.

Three methods previously suggested for the prediction of the dumping syndrome in patients undergoing gastric surgery were compared. Neither the subjective response nor the change in forearm muscle blood flow accompanying a preoperative intrajejunal test meal was found to separate potential 'clinical dumpers' from 'non-dumpers'. The ventilatory response to a rising alveolar carbon dioxide partial pressure, estimated by a simplified rebreathing technique, effectively identified those with a predisposition to dumping within the sample. Of the conventional measures of ventilatory response to carbon dioxide, the standardized threshold (STCO2) was found to be the most reliable.