Applied potential tomography. Noninvasive method for measuring gastric emptying of a solid test meal.

Applied potential tomography (APT) is a new noninvasive, nonradioactive method of measuring gastric emptying, which generates profiles of emptying of liquids that are similar to those obtained simultaneously by scintigraphy and dye dilution. This study validates the ability of APT to measure emptying of a solid beefburger test meal from the stomach by comparing the results obtained with those obtained simultaneously by scintigraphy. When acid secretion was inhibited, there was a significant correlation between the two methods for the time taken for half the meal to empty from the stomach and the amount of meal emptied at different time intervals. Furthermore, the profiles of gastric emptying obtained by APT resembled those obtained by scintigraphy in most studies. If acid secretion was not inhibited, there was no correlation between values obtained by the two methods.