Gastrointestinal response to minute doses of glucagon.

Small doses of glucagon are effective when performing a biphasic gastrointestinal (GI) examination. The authors conducted a controlled double-blind crossover study to determine the optimum and smallest effective doses and the onset and duration of drug action. Fifteen men received a placebo and 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 mg of glucagon intravenously. Hypotonicity of the stomach, duodenum, and small bowel was adequate with 0.1 mg of glucagon. Low-dose glucagon makes the biphasic upper GI examination short and practical. There is no need to delay the second phase of the examination or the small-bowel follow-through.