title: Gastric emptying in spinal cord injury patients.
abstract: Prolonged gastric emptying half-time (GET1/2) has been observed in several neurological disorders. However, findings of altered gastric emptying (GE) in previous studies on subjects with spinal cord injuries (SCI) have been questioned. Thus, GET1/2 of solid meals in SCI patients was studied by radionuclide imaging. This prospective study was conducted to assess GET1/2 in 50 SCI patients using radionuclide labeled solid meals. GET1/2 was abnormal in 58% of the 50 SCI patients. Age (abnormal GET1/2 in 57% of young vs 59% of old patients) and injury duration (abnormal GET1/2 in 61% of long vs 56% of short duration patients) were not statistically significant factors influencing GET1/2 (P > 0.05). However, the incidences of abnormal GET1/2 in female SCI patients (57%) and patients with high level injury (quadriplegic) (83%) were higher than in male SCI patients (47%) and patients with low level injury (paraplegic) (35%) (P < 0.05). SCI can cause significant prolonged GE of a solid meal, especially in female patients and patients with high level injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Changlai
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Ding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005746:Gastric Emptying; D005772:Gastrointestinal Transit; D006801:Humans; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013909:Thorax; D013997:Time Factors