Simultaneous Measurement of Gastric Emptying of a Soup Test Meal Using MRI and Gamma Scintigraphy

Measurement of gastric emptying is of clinical value for a range of conditions. Gamma scintigraphy (GS) has an established role, but the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has recently increased. Previous comparison studies between MRI and GS showed good correlation, but were performed on separate study days. In this study, the modalities were alternated rapidly allowing direct comparison with no intra-individual variability confounds. Twelve healthy participants consumed 400 g of Technetium-99m (^99mTc)-labelled soup test meal (204 kcal) and were imaged at intervals for 150 min, alternating between MRI and GS. The time to empty half of the stomach contents (T_1/2) and retention rate (RR) were calculated and data correlated. The average T_1/2 was similar for MRI (44 ± 6 min) and GS (35 ± 4 min) with a moderate but significant difference between the two modalities (p < 0.004). The individual T_1/2 values were measured, and MRI and GS showed a good positive correlation (r = 0.95, p < 0.0001), as well as all the RRs at each time point up to 120 min. Gastric emptying was measured for the first time by MRI and GS on the same day. This may help with translating the use of this simple meal, known to elicit reliable, physiological, and pathological gastrointestinal motor, peptide, and appetite responses.