Esophageal reconstruction surgery in oncologic patients: determination of gastric emptying time

All parts of the gastrointestinal tract are accessible for study using nuclear medicine techniques. We have studied the effect of esophageal reconstruction surgery, in different periods of time, after surgical procedure. Oncologic patients (19) were evaluated after esophageal reconstruction surgery with gastric (group II - 14 patients) or colonic tube (group III - 5 patients) and they were compared with 15 healthy volunteers (group I). Gastric emptying was performed in the same subjects using solid food (egg sandwich) labeled with 99mTc-phytate. In emptying gastric studies, the mean (T1/2) of the patients was much faster than those of the control (p<0.05) when 1/3 distal tube was considered as stomach. However, there was no difference between the T1/2 of group II and group III. We concluded that this nuclear medicine method could be useful in the monitoring the surgical reconstruction of the esophagus.