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Assessment of gastric emptying in children: Establishment of control values utilizing a standardized vegetarian meal
Author(s) -
Malik Rohan,
Srivastava Anshu,
Gambhir Sanjay,
Yachha Surender K,
Siddegowda Murthy,
Ponnusamy Madusudhanan,
Poddar Ujjal
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/jgh.13145
Subject(s) - gastric emptying , medicine , scintigraphy , percentile , meal , normative , gastroenterology , gold standard (test) , nuclear medicine , stomach , statistics , philosophy , mathematics , epistemology
Abstract Background and Aim: Disorders of gastric emptying constitute an important group of conditions in children. The diagnostic gold standard is scintigraphy, and recommendations for standardization have been published with adult normative data. Pediatric literature lacks standardized age specific normative values. Our aim was to establish normal values of solid phase gastric emptying utilizing scintigraphy in children (5–18 years) using the recommended imaging protocol and standardized meal. Methods: Gastric emptying was assessed by scintigraphy of a 99m Tc‐labeled vegetarian meal. Image acquisition was dynamic for first hour and static at 2, 3, and 4 h. Results were reported as percent intragastric retention; lag phase defined as time to 5% emptying. Results: Thirty (17 boys) healthy children, mean ages of 9.5 ± 3.1 (range 5 to 16) years, were enrolled. Median values (5th and 95th percentiles) for percent gastric retention at 30 min, 1, 2, 3 and 4 h were 90% (76 and 100%), 77% (56 and 96%), 33% (10 and 71%), 16% (3 and 44%), and 7% (0.5 and 22%). The median (5th and 95th percentiles) lag phase was 18 min (6 and 60 min). Lag phase had no correlation with gastric retention at 4 h. Conclusions: This study provides valuable normative ranges for solid phase gastric emptying in children. Using adult normative data in children may be inappropriate.