Objective: To find out if gastric tonometry is of sufficient accuracy to diagnose chronic splanchnic syndrome.
Design: Prospective open study.
Setting: University hospital, The Netherlands.
Subjects: 10 patients in whom chronic splanchnic syndrome had been suspected, and in 5 of whom it was subsequently confirmed.
Intervention: Standardised measurement of intramucosal gastric pH (tonometry) and multiplane angiography of the abdominal aorta and splanchnic arteries.
Main outcome measure: Correlation between intramucosal gastric pH and angiographic and clinical findings.
Results: The mean basal pH preoperatively was 7.48 among 5 patients subsequently found to have splanchnic syndrome (group 1) and 7.41 among the 5 who did not (group 2). Those in group 1 all had extensive three vessel disease with stenoses of 70% or more in at least two of the three splanchnic arteries. The 5 patients in group 2 had no clinically important stenoses in either the coeliac or the superior mesenteric artery; 4 had occlusions of the inferior mesenteric artery.
Conclusion: Gastric tonometry is of no use in the diagnosis of chronic splanchnic syndrome.