Error and corrections with scintigraphic measurement of gastric emptying of solid foods

Previous methods for correction of depth used geometric means of simultaneously obtained anterior and posterior counts. The present study compares this method with a new one that uses computations of depth based on peak-to-scatter (P:S) ratios. Six normal volunteers were fed a meal of beef stew, water, and chicken liver that had been labeled in vivo with both In-113m and Tc-99m. Gastric emptying was followed at short intervals with anterior counts of peak and scattered radiation for each nuclide, as well as posteriorly collected peak counts from the gastric ROI. Depth of the nuclides was estimated by the P:S method as well as the older method. Both gave similar results. Errors from septal penetration or scatter proved to be a significantly larger problem than errors from changes in depth.