Clinical Research
Copyright ©2006 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2006; 12(8): 1243-1248
Published online Feb 28, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i8.1243
Short- and medium-term reproducibility of gastric emptying of a solid meal determined by a low dose of 13C-octanoic acid and nondispersive isotope-selective infrared spectrometry
Anna Kasicka-Jonderko, Magdalena Kamińska, Krzysztof Jonderko, Olga Setera, Barbara Błońska-Fajfrowska
Anna Kasicka-Jonderko, Magdalena Kamińska, Krzysztof Jonderko, Olga Setera, Barbara Błońska-Fajfrowska, Department of Basic Biomedical Science, School of Pharmacy, Medical University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland
Krzysztof Jonderko, Department of Physiology, Institute of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, Sosnowiec, Poland
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by a research grant (3 P05D 054 24) from the Ministry of Scientific Research and Information Technology (formerly: State Committee For Scientific Research) of the Republic of Poland - contract # 0617/P05/2003/24
Correspondence to: Dr. Anna Kasicka-Jonderko, MD, Department of Basic Biomedical Science, School of Pharmacy, Medical University of Silesia, 3 Kasztanowa street, PL-41-205 Sosnowiec, Poland. akj@slam.katowice.pl
Telephone: +48-32-2919272 Fax: +48-32-2945548
Received: April 18, 2005
Revised: July 12, 2005
Accepted: July 20, 2005
Published online: February 28, 2006
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the reproducibility of a modified 13C breath test-based measurement of solid phase gastric emptying (GE) within the frames of a simple-repeated measure study protocol.

METHODS: Twelve healthy subjects (6 females and 6 males, mean age 24.9 ± 0.7 years) were recruited to undergo three identical GE examinations. In six subjects the first two examinations were performed 2 d apart, and the third session was carried out at a median interval of 19.5 d (range 18 - 20 d) from the second one. In another six subjects the first two measurements were taken 20 d apart (median, range: 17-23 d), whereas the third session took place 2 d after the second one. Probes of expiratory air collected before and during six hours after intake of a solid meal (378 kcal) labelled with 75 μL (68 mg) 13C-octanoic acid, were measured for 13CO2 enrichment with the nondispersive isotope-selective infrared spectrometry NDIRS apparatus.

RESULTS: Taking coefficients of variation for paired examinations into account, the short-term reproducibility of the GE measurement was slightly but not significantly better than the medium-term one: 7.7% and 11.2% for the lag phase (T-Lag), 7.3% and 10.9% for the gastric half emptying time (T½). The least differences in GE parameters detectable at P = 0.05 level in the 12 paired examinations were 9.6 and 15.6 min for T-Lag, 11.6 and 19.7 min for T½ by a two-day or two to three-week time gap, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The low-cost modification of the breath test involving a lower dose of 13C-octanoic acid and NDIRS, renders good short- and medium-term reproducibility, as well as sensitivity of the measurement of gastric emptying of solids.

Keywords: 13C breath test; Gastric emptying; Nondispersive isotope-selective infrared spectrometry; 13C-octanoic acid; Reproducibility