Radionuclide studies on gastric evacuatory function in health and in the duodenal ulcer disease. II. Regional distribution of emptying index (RDEI) patterns.

Studies with a new method for visualizing the stomach evacuatory function - regional distribution of emptying index (RDEI) were performed on 35 healthy subjects and 34 duodenal ulcer patients. The observed gastric RDEI patterns are described in detail, and their pathophysiological meaning is discussed. A significantly higher incidence of an atypical gastric RDEI pattern was found in duodenal ulcer patients compared to normals. Except for a shorter disease duration, however, no other clinical features distinguished the patients with the present atypical gastric RDEI pattern from the remaining ones. It has been hypothesized that antral dysmotility is a cause of the observed phenomenon.