13C-urea breath test in patients having undergone total gastrectomy.
OBJECTIVE
In this study, we performed 13C-urea breath test in patients who had undergone total gastrectomy and investigated the content of (13)CO2 in the CO2 gas expired after direct influx of 13C-urea into the small intestine.


METHODS
13C-Urea breath test was performed in 31 patients who had undergone total gastrectomy at this department for the treatment of stomach cancer and consented to participate in this study. The test was performed in two ways, i.e. with and without mouth washing (gargling) on taking 13C-urea.


RESULTS
Among 41 measurements, the delta13C was less than 2.5% per hundred in 9 measurements (22.2%) and less than 2.0% per hundred in 6 measurements (14.6%). The delta13C exceeded 50% per hundred, in 4 subjects (9.8%). There were no differences between the methods with and without gargling.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study suggested the possibility that 13C-urea is decomposed even in the jejunum or the lower part of intestine resulting in absorption of H(13)CO3 and another possibility that 13C-urea is directly absorbed from the intestine and decomposed in the blood.
Rino
Yasushi
Y
First Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Kanagawa, 236-0004, Japan. rino@med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp
Takanashi
Yoshinori
Y
Hasuo
Kimiatsu
K
Ashida
Akio
A
Harada
Hiroshi
H
Kawamoto
Masakazu
M
Hatori
Shinsuke
S
Yamada
Roppei
R
Inagaki
Daisuke
D
Imada
Toshio
T
D001944:Breath Tests; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D014508:Urea / Q000378:metabolism
D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D014508:Urea