Effect of cigarette smoking on gastric emptying.

Gastric emptying after a test meal was studied in 17 normal volunteers--10 habitual smokers and seven non-smokers. The solid component of the test meal was labelled with technetium and the liquid component with indium. After one meal the habitual smokers smoked two cigarettes. Emptying curves were produced for both technetium and indium, and the differences between curves for meals with and without cigarettes were analysed. Cigarette smoking accelerated the rate at which the liquid component of a meal left the stomach. This may be important in the pathogenesis of duodneal ulcer and the delay in healing caused by cigarette smoking.