[Gastric emptying and intragastric distribution of liquid and solid meal in patients with systemic sclerosis]

To evaluate the gastric emptying functions in patients with systemic sclerosis (SS), gastric emptying and intragastric distribution during emptying after a liquid-solid meal were studied by single photon emission computed tomography in 11 patients without gut symptoms and in 17 healthy volunteers. In patient group, half emptying times both of proximal (pT50) and of total stomach (T50) for both meal components were significantly longer than in controls. There were significant relationships respectively between the T50 and the pT50 for both liquid and solid meal. Out of 11 cases, 9 had delayed T50 of solid, which were accompanied by delayed emptying of liquid in 8 patients. The prolongation of gastric emptying of solid correlated significantly with the duration of the disease. However, the changes of the activity-time curves in the distal stomach during emptying were not reaching significant level when compared to the controls. In conclusion despite no existence of any gut symptoms our SS patients present significant delayed gastric emptying, which may be correlated to the dysfunction of tonic contraction of the proximal stomach attributed to autonomic neuropathy.