Gastroparesis is a disorder in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents. The disorder normally occurs when nerves to the stomach are damaged or stop working. Lingering food in the stomach can cause problems such as bacterial overgrowth from the fermentation of food. Also, the food can harden into solid masses that can cause nausea, vomiting, and obstruction in the stomach. These masses can be dangerous if they block the passage of food into the small intestine.
Delayed gastric emptying is a common cause of functional dyspepsia, which is prevalent in 11.5-14.7% of the US population. The American Gastroenterology Association recommends testing for delayed gastric emptying in the evaluation of gastroparesis.
Scintigraphy, a nuclear imaging technique, is the main method by which gastric emptying is assessed. In this test, the patient ingests a radioactive labeled meal, whose clearance from the stomach is tracked with a gamma camera. The test is expensive and lengthy and can take anywhere between two and four hours.
The BreathID Gastric Emptying Rate test provides a simple, quick, and accurate display of the Gastric Emptying Rate profile, as well as the following benefits:
- It is Radiation free since it uses 13C, a stable, non-radioactive isotope.
- Can be performed in any setting, making it significantly cheaper than tests performed in a nuclear imaging department.
- Shorter testing time because data analysis is performed in real time. Once sufficient data has been collected, the test automatically stops.
- Test results provide more clinical information, including actual gastric emptying patterns.
- No patient cooperation is required, enabling the test to be performed on ventilated patients in the ICU.