Gastric motility and emptying studies with radionuclides in research and clinical settings

Scintigraphy remains the most reliable method to measure gastric emptying. Standardized dual-isotope radionuclide gastric emptying techniques and appropriate meals, which stimulate small bowel receptors and utilize correction factors for technical errors, are widely available for research purposes. It is now necessary to apply the same standardized techniques in clinical settings to make the test diagnostically worthwhile. It is possible to quantify gastric motor function scintigraphically and to apply this methodology to study the pathophysiology of gastric emptying in various motor disorders. Ambulatory gastric emptying methods with intraluminal gamma counting probes are currently under development.