title: Gastric emptying and bezoars in Japanese. Report of five cases.
abstract: Bezoars are conglomerates of undigested material in the stomach. Previous reports have shown that a decrease in secretion of pepsin and gastric acid and a delay in gastric emptying might contribute to their formation. To clarify the pathogenesis of the formation of gastric bezoars, we studied gastric emptying in five patients who presented with a bezoar. In addition, gastric acid secretion was studied in three of the cases. Gastric emptying was not delayed in any case, and there was no trend toward a decrease in gastric acid secretion. The five patients were successfully treated by the endoscopic fragmentation and enzymatic dissolution of the bezoars. We conclude that, in Japanese, factors other than a delay in gastric emptying are the main contributors to bezoar formation.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tohdo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Haruma
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kitadai
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshihara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimamoto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sumii
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kajiyama
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001630:Bezoars / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005744:Gastric Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D005746:Gastric Emptying / Q000502:physiology*; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013270:Stomach