Measurement of gastric emptying rate in humans by real-time ultrasound

Ultrasonography of the Stomach

“…Studies comparing emptying of a low nutrient beef soup (Holt et al, 1986) and high nutrient dextrose drink (Hveem et al, 1996;Jones et al, 1997) demonstrate good correlation and agreement between techniques (Figure 3). …”

“…Ultrasonography of the stomach has the ability to overcome these disadvantages. It provides an indirect measurement of gastric emptying by quantifying changes in antral area over time (Holt et al, 1980;Bolondi et al, 1985;Holt et al, 1986).…”

“…To optimise measurement, the subject should remain seated in approximately the same position for the duration of the examination, and ultrasound images of antral area should be taken at consistent times through the respiration cycle (Jones et al, 1997). A variety of both liquid and semi-solid test meals, including low-nutrient beef soup, beans, pasta, orange juice and dextrose (Holt et al, 1980;Bolondi et al, 1985;Holt et al, 1986;Brown et al, 1993;Benini et al, 1994;Hveem et al, 1996) have been used to assess gastric emptying. The rate of gastric emptying, or gastric emptying half time (T50), defined as the time it takes for 50% of a given meal to empty from the stomach, can be calculated (Collins et al, 1983) and the retention of a meal, expressed as a percentage of the total meal, at any given time, is defined as in equation (1) below.…”

“…It is not a direct measure of gastric emptying but rather an assessment of changes in antral area (Holt et al, 1980;Bolondi et al, 1985;Holt et al, 1986). Additionally, it does not take into account the full geometrical shape or distribution of the contents of the stomach (Gilja et al, 2005).…”

Variabilities of gallbladder contraction indices and a simple regression model for gallbladder and gastric emptying ratio

“…The gastric emptying rate was calculated as the gastric emptying ratio of basal antral area to gastric antral area at the 15th minute post prandial [11]. At the end of the procedure, subjects heights were measured on a calibrated vertical wall and the weight measured on a weighing scale (Model H 89 LT Blue).…”