The effect of minor gastric surgery on gastric emptying in the rat

A new minimally invasive technique has recently been described which enables gastric emptying to be assessed on repeated occasions without the need for animal sacrifice. This technique has been applied to study the effect of a laparotomy or gastrotomy on gastric emptying in the rat. Groups of 10 animals underwent either a laparotomy or a gastrotomy, or were unoperated controls. Solid and liquid gastric emptying studies were performed preoperatively, and for two postoperative months. Emptying was unchanged in unoperated controls. Laparotomy animals showed delayed emptying of both solids and liquids, returning to normal by two months. Gastrotomy animals showed a similar delay in solid emptying, but liquid emptying was within the normal range postoperatively. It is concluded that minor abdominal surgery causes marked alteration in gastric emptying. The comparable emptying delay for patients is unknown, but this should be considered when patients are recovering from operation, and when interpreting postoperative gastric emptying studies.