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Gastric emptying of solids in morbid obesity
C Tosetti1, R Corinaldesi, V Stanghellini
1Institute of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University of Bologna, Italy.
Objective:
To evaluate the effect of weight loss induced by dietetic treatment, with or without an intragastric balloon, on gastric emptying of obese subjects.
Subjects:
20 morbidly obese subjects (21-54 years, 45.3-58.0 kg/m2) and 20 healthy controls (21-56 years, 20.3-24.8 kg/m2).
Design:
Parallel study of a 4 month, low calorie dietetic treatment with or without a 500 ml intragastric balloon.
Results:
In basal conditions, obese subjects had accelerated gastric emptying as compared to healthy controls. At the end of the dietetic treatment period, a significant decrease of body weight was obtained. Patients also showed a slowing of gastric emptying. Both the weight loss and the slowing of gastric emptying occurred irrespective of the presence or absence of the intragastric balloon.
Conclusion:
The present findings are compatible with the hypothesis that gastric emptying, food intake and body weight are integrated parameters in subjects with morbid obesity.