Right recumbent position on gastric emptying of water evidenced by (13)C breath testing

To compare the impact of the right recumbent position with the sitting position on gastric emptying of water.

In eight healthy male volunteers, the 13C acetate breath test was performed twice to assess gastric emptying of 100 mL tap water. Subjects were seated in one test and lying on their right side in the other. In both positions, pulmonary (13)CO(2) exhalation curves were obtained by plotting breath data against time. Percent gastric retention curves were created by analyzing data using the Wagner-Nelson protocol.

No significant posture effect was found in pulmonary (13)CO(2) output curves (P = 0.2150), whereas a significant effect was seen in gastric retention curves (P = 0.0315). The percent retention values at 10 min and 15 min were significantly smaller when subjects were in the right recumbent position compared with the seated position (P < 0.05). Our results verified the accelerating effect of the right recumbent position on gastric emptying of non-nutritive solutions. Concerning clinical implications, this study suggests that placing patients with acute pain on their right side after oral administration of analgesic drugs in solution is justified as an effective practice for rapid pain relief. For patients with gastrointestinal reflux symptoms, sleeping in the right recumbent position may reduce nocturnal symptoms, as delayed gastric emptying can cause reflux symptoms.

Gastric emptying of water occurs more quickly when a subject lies on the right side compared with sitting.