Gastric emptying in newborns and young infants. Measurement of the rate of emptying using indium-113m-microcolloid.

The rate of gastric emptying was measured in newborns and young infants by a new radio-isotopic method. 28 control babies and 6 infants with projectile vomiting were given a 50 ml standard milk feeding containing 15 muCi of Indium-113m-microcolloid. The radioactivity in the stomach was counted at regular intervals with a gamma-camera. The gastric emptying followed an exponential pattern with a "half-life" of 87 plus or minus 29 minutes in 24 out of 28 control babies. In 6 patients with projectile vomiting gastric emptying was impaired severely. Three of them with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis showed complete stasis of gastric contents. Gastric emptying returned to normal 8-16 days after pyloromyotomy. It is suggested that the radioisotopic technique is helpful in evaluating the severity of pyloric stenosis and that it is of value in studies of the action of pharmacological substances on gastric emptying.