Abstract
Prolonged gastric emptying half-time (GET1/2)has been observed in several neurological disorders.However, findings of altered gastric emptying (GE) inprevious studies on subjects with spinal cord injuries (SCI) have been questioned. Thus, GET1/2 ofsolid meals in SCI patients was studied by radionuclideimaging. This prospective study was conducted to assessGET1/2 in 50 SCI patients using radionuclide labeled solid meals. GET1/2 was abnormal in 58% of the50 SCI patients. Age (abnormal GET1/2 in 57% of young vs59% of old patients) and injury duration (abnormalGET1/2 in 61% of long vs 56% of short duration patients) were not statistically significantfactors influencing GET1/2 (P > 0.05). However, theincidences of abnormal GET1/2 in female SCI patients(57%) and patients with high level injury (quadriplegic) (83%) were higher than in male SCI patients(47%) and patients with low level injury (paraplegic)(35%) (P < 0.05). SCI can cause significant prolongedGE of a solid meal, especially in female patients and patients with high level injury.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Rajendran SK, Reiser JR, Bauman W, Zhang RL, Gordon SK, Korsten MA: Gastrointestinal transit after spinal cord injury: effect of cisapride. Am J Gastroenterol 87:1614–1617, 1992
Kewalramani L: Neurogenic gastroduodenal ulceration and bleeding associated with spinal cord injuries. J Trauma 19:259–265, 1979
Schuster M: Motor disorders of the stomach. Med Clin North Am 65:1269–1289, 1981
Zhang RL, Chayes Z, Korsten MA, Bauman WA: Gastric emptying rates to liquid or solid meals appear to be unaffected by spinalcord injury. Am J Gastroenterol 89:1856–1858, 1994
Segal JL, Milne N, Brunnemann SR: Gastric emptying is impaired in patients with spinal cord injury. Am J Gastroenterol 90:466–470, 1995
Segal JL, Milne N, Brunnemann SR, Lyons KP: Metoclopramide-induced normalization of impaired gastric emptying in spinal cord injury. Am J Gastroenterol 82:1143–1148, 1987
Fealey RD, Szurszewski JH, Merritt JL, DiMagno EP: Effect of traumatic spinalcord transection on human upper gastrointestinal motility and gastric emptying. Gastroenterology. 87:69–75, 1984
Kao CH, Lai T L, Wang SJ, Chen GH, Yeh SH: Influence of age on gastric emptying in healthy Chinese. Clin Nucl Med 19:401–404, 1994
Malmud LS, Fisher RS, Knight LC, Rock E: Scintigraphic evaluation of gastric emptying. Semin Nucl Med 8:116–125, 1982
Elashoff JD, Reedy TJ, Meyer JH: Analysis of gastric emptying data. Gastroenterology 83:1306–1312, 1982
Griffith GH, Owen GM, Kirkman S, Shields R: Measurement of rate of gastric emptying using chromium-51. Lancet i:1244–1245, 1966
Christian PE, Datz F L, Moore JG: Technical considerations in radionuclide gastric emptying studies. J Nucl Med Technol 15:200–207, 1987
Datz FL, Christian PE, Moore J: Gender-related differences in gastric emptying. J Nucl Med 28:1204–1207, 1987
Nino-Murcia M, Friedland GW: Functional abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract in patients with spinalcord injuries: Evaluation with imaging procedures. Am J Radiol 158:279–281, 1992
Schapiro H, Woodward ER: Pathway of enterogastric reflex. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 101:407–409, 1959
Chaudhuri TK: Use of Tc-99m DTPA for measuring gastric emptying time. J Nucl Med 15:391–395, 1974
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kao, CH., Ho, YJ., Changlai, SP. et al. Gastric Emptying in Spinal Cord Injury Patients. Dig Dis Sci 44, 1512–1515 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026690305537
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026690305537