[Sonographic assessment of gastric emptying. Reliability and validity of the antrum sagittal surface method for fluids].

The reliability and validity of sonographic measurements of gastric emptying employing sagittal antral planimetry were investigated. The intraindividual reproducibility of this procedure was examined in 15 healthy volunteers, who ingested 400 ml of water on two separate study days. Simultaneous studies of gastric emptying by ultrasound and scintigraphy were performed on 17 of 20 patients with suspected gastroparesis (16 diabetics and one patient with disseminated encephalomyelitis), using a caloric liquid test meal (20 g Biloptin-fatty meal in 300 ml water at 37 degrees C, radiolabeled with 0.5 mCi 99mTc-colloid). The expansion of the antral area with increasing amounts of ingested fluid and the emptying times showed a good intraindividual reproducibility from day to day (r = 0.94 vs. r = 0.81). There was a significant correlation between the relative residual volumes calculated by scintigraphy and by ultrasound (r = 0.82). These results imply that the ultrasonic sagittal antral area method is reliable and valid in the assessment of gastric emptying rates in humans.