The relationship between the rate of gastric emptying and the dumping syndrome

Following an oral hypertonic glucose challenge, gastric emptying and changes in plasma volume were measured in 15 subjects before and in 36 subjects after a truncal or selective vagotomy with a drainage procedure. The symptoms experienced during the test were noted, and the postoperative patients divided into two groups, (a) 20 patients who experienced dumping symptoms during the test and (b) 16 patients who did not. Gastric emptying was significantly faster and the fall in plasma volume significantly greater in those patients who experienced symptoms after the ingestion of hypertonic glucose than in those who did not, clearly demonstrating that the dumping syndrome is associated with an increased rate of gastric emptying. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between the rate of gastric emptying and the fall in plasma volume.