Single oral dose of cisapride accelerates gastric antral emptying in healthy humans: an ultrasonographic study.

An ultrasonographic study of ten healthy volunteers was carried out to evaluate the effect of cisapride on gastric antral emptying. More than 1 week after the measurement of the baseline emptying rate, cisapride was given at a single oral dose of 5 mg 30 minutes before intake of a balanced liquid test meal (5 ml/kg body weight). To determine the time to half emptying (T1/2), an exponential curve was extrapolated for the elimination phase of the gastroantral sagittal cross-sectional area plotted against time. The T1/2 was reduced by 18.5% after cisapride, from 62.6 +/- 4.3 to 51.0 +/- 4.4 min (P = 0.0284). We conclude that a single oral dose of 5 mg of cisapride significantly accelerates the gastric antral emptying rate in healthy humans.