Open AccessIs the Correction Factor used in the Breath Test Assessment of Gastric Emptying Appropriate for use in Infants?
Author(s) -
Omari Taher I,
Symonds Erin,
Davidson Geoffrey P,
Butler Ross N
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.206
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1536-4801
pISSN - 0277-2116
DOI - 10.1097/01.mpg.0000168994.29181.c4
Subject(s) - gastric emptying , raw score , medicine , breath test , raw data , stomach , raw material , gastroenterology , statistics , mathematics , chemistry , organic chemistry , helicobacter pylori
Objectives: The gastric emptying breath test (GEBT) is now routinely used in many centers. Validation studies in adults have shown that although there is a linear correlation between the GEBT and scintigraphy, the GEBT overestimates gastric half emptying time (GEt 1/2 ) by a constant of approximately 60 minutes because of postgastric processing. It is therefore conventional to apply a “correction factor” to the GEBT result. Because = no similar validation studies have been performed in infants, the aim of this study was to directly characterize the postgastric processing of 13 C octanoic acid in infants to assess the suitability of the standard correction factor for use in infants. Methods: The pattern of breath 13 CO 2 excretion after separate infusion of 13 C octanoic acid into either the stomach or the duodenum was measured in 13 healthy preterm infants (6 male, 7 female). The raw 13 CO 2 half excretion time after intragastric (GEt 1/2 raw ) and intraduodenal (DEt 1/2 raw ) administration of 13 C octanoic acid was calculated, and the difference between GEt 1/2 raw and DEt 1/2 raw (i.e., GEt 1/2 raw − DEt 1/2 raw ) was directly compared with GEt 1/2 corrected , derived by applying the standard correction factor to GEt 1/2 raw . Results: Values for GEt 1/2 raw ‐ DEt 1/2 raw correlated significantly with GEt 1/2 corrected . Conclusion: Our results show that the standard correction factor is appropriate for performing the GEBT in preterm infants.