Review article: methods of measuring gastric acid secretion.
BACKGROUND
Gastric acid has an important pathophysiological role in human beings. Numerous methods have been evaluated over the years in an attempt to measure gastric acid and stomach acidity, to study the role of gastric acid in gastrointestinal diseases in humans and to evaluate the effects of acid suppressing drugs.


OBJECTIVE
To review methods that have been used to measure gastric acid and gastric acidity.


METHODS
Searches of the electronic databases PUBMED, MEDLINE and EMBASE, were performed with articles restricted to English language and human subjects. References were also identified from the bibliographies of selected articles.


RESULTS
Methods for measuring gastric acid include both invasive and non-invasive techniques. Invasive tests include the conventional gastric acid aspiration tests, gastric pH measurement techniques and endoscopic methods. Non-invasive methods use urinary analysis, breath analysis, serum pepsinogens assay, scintigraphic techniques, impedence tomography and alkaline tide for measurement of gastric acid.


CONCLUSIONS
Several methods of measuring gastric acid exist. Invasive tube tests are uncomfortable and time consuming, whereas most of the non-invasive methods are at best semiquantitative and useful in detecting low or absent acid secretion. Further attempts to explore new methods for measuring gastric acid are therefore warranted.
Department of Gastroenterology, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds, UK. ghosh_tilak@yahoo.com
T
T
Ghosh
D I
DI
Lewis
A T R
AT
Axon
S M
SM
Everett
D004063:Digestion / Q000502:physiology*; D005744:Gastric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D005745:Gastric Acidity Determination; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D010435:Pepsinogens / Q000097:blood; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D010435:Pepsinogens