Gastric Emptying Assessed by Radio-opaque Markers in Healthy Young Men and the Effect of Erythromycin

Jung, Jun Keun; Park, Hyo Jin; Moon, Yoon Jae; Lee, Sang In; Kim, Ki Whang; Park, In Suh

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The technique for measuring gastric emp.ying is variable. Scintigraphy is the standard technique. However, there are several disadvantages. The aims of this study were to develop a simple radiologic method for assessing gastric ernptying of an indigestible solid using radio-opaque rnarkers (ROM) and tc investigate the effects of erythromycin on gastric emptying and plasma motilin level in postprandial state.
METHODS
After ovemight fast, subjects were randomized to receive either placebo or erythromycin lactobionate (Abbott, U.S.A.) 250rng per oral or intravenously in a single morning dose. A 300KCal standarclized test meal was also administed with one ROM capsule. A supine plain abdominal radiograph was taken 1, 2, 3 and 6 hours after ingestion of the test meal. The number of markers which were still in the stomach, on the X-ray picture, were counted to assess gastric clearance by two radiologist individually. Peripheral blood samples were obtained at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3 and 6 hours after ingestion of the test meal. Plasma motilin concentrations are determined with a commercial raclio-immunoassay kits (Motilin RIA kit, Peninsula, England).
RESULTS
The rate of gastric clearance v,ere 2.7% within J hour, 22.7% within 2 hours, 60.2% within 3 hours and 100.0% within 6 hours after ingestion of the markers with placebo. A half of markers was cleared within 3 hours in most subjects. Single administration of erythromycin either orally or intravenously significantly accelerated gastric learance of ROM (p 0.05). Mean emptying of ROM averaged 25.4% within 1 hours, 82.3% within 2 hours, 98.5% within 3 hours and 100.0% within 6 hours after ingestion of the markers with erythromycin. But there was no significant difference in plasma motilin level between fasting,md fed status, and nor after administration of erythromycin.
CONCLUSIONS
On the 1>asis of these results, ROM technique may be used as an easy, non-invasive screening test for the purpose of cletecting gastric motor clysfunction. And erythromycin accelerates gastric emptying of indigestible solid, independent of the plasma motilin concentration.