The assessment of mucus substances in gastric juice from duodenal ulcer patients and normal subjects.

The carbohydrate and nitrogen content of the gastric juice was assessed in 18 persons whose diagnosis were unknown to the investigators and the data compared by discriminant function analysis with similar measurements from 42 patients with proven duodenal ulceration and 22 normal controls. It was possible to assess correctly 14 of the 18 patients (77.8%) of the unknown group as having a duodenal ulcer. The results of three patients (16.7%) were equivocal, and one person (5.5%) was wrongly classified. The investigation confirms that the carbohydrate and nitrogen content of gastric secretion in duodenal ulcer patients is abnormal.