SUMMARY Gastric emptying was studied in 12 diabetic patients, six with and six without objective evidence of autonomic neuropathy and in 20 non-diabetic controls, using a double isotope scintiscanning technique which differentiated between solid and liquid emptying. Three patients with autonomic neuropathy exhibited gastric stasis, although this was detected by conventional radiology in only one. Neither the patients with stasis nor those without exhibited abnormally rapid early gastric emptying. In patients without stasis, the normal differentiation between solid and liquid emptying was impaired, suggesting an abnormality of antral peristalsis not attributable to vagal denervation. Both intravenous and oral metoclopramide produced symptomatic improvement in two patients with gastric stasis and restored their gastric emptying to normal.

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Following reports of hemorrhage from renal microaneurysms caused by renal biopsy, renal arteriography has been used increasingly as a screening procedure prior to renal biopsy as well as for diagnostic investigation. The incidence of renal microaneurysms has been documented in a group of 40 cases of suspected polyarteritis nodosa, of whom 15 were confirmed, and only 2 had microaneurysms. Both subjects with microaneurysms had more florid clinical disease. In view of the low incidence of microaneurysms it is suggested that renal angiography should be used as a diagnostic investigation only in cases with florid clinical disease and not as a screening procedure prior to renal biopsy.