Enterogastric reflux in normal subjects and patients with Bilroth II gastroenterostomy. Measurement of enterogastric reflux.

Initially, scintigraphy was established as a valid method for detecting and quantitating enterogastric reflux. A new, tubeless technique for the measurement of enterogastric reflux was developed. 99mTc bound to [(2,6 dimethylphenylcarbamoylmethyl) iminodiacetic acid] (5 mCi) was administered intravenously to visualize the liver and biliary tract. One hour later, a standard liquid meal labeled with 111In bound to diethylene-triamine penta-acetic acid (250 microCi) was given. The 99mTc and 111In activities were recorded simultaneously for 1-min periods at 15-min intervals for 2 hr over liver, gallbladder, and gastric areas of interest. Enterogastric reflux indices were determined. Ten normal subjects and 13 patients with vagotomy, hemigastrectomy, and Bilroth II gastrojejunostomy were evaluated. The enterogastric reflux index in asymptomatic postsurgical patients was increased significantly to 24.6 +/- 4.7 compared with 8.2 +/- 6.0 (P less than 0.01) in normal subjects. In postsurgical patients with the syndrome of alkaline gastritis, the enterogastric reflux index was increased significantly to 86.3 +/- 7.1 (P less than 0.01) compared with asymptomatic postsurgical patients.