GASTRIC-EMPTYING AND SUBJECTIVE SYMPTOMS OF NAUSEA - LACK OF EFFECTS OF A 5-HYDROXYTRYPTAMINE-3 ANTAGONIST ONDANSETRON ON GASTRIC-EMPTYING IN PATIENTS WITH GASTRIC STASIS SYNDROME

Thirty-seven consecutive patients referred to a regional gastroenterology outpatient clinic with complaints of persistent nausea had a double isotopic scintigraphic evaluation of solid and liquid gastric emptying. Gastric emptying of both forms followed an exponential model. Marked day to day Variation of gastric emptying was noted with a coefficient of variation of approximately 0.20 for both phases. Only 9 of 37 patients had delayed gastric emptying rate of the solid component (> 180 min) and no correlation between gastric stasis syndrome and nausea was established. Among these patients the median time for the stomach to empty 50% of the solid component was 261 min and 50% of the liquid component was 66 min. Treatment of these 9 patients shown to have gastric stasis Syndrome and further 3 patients with diabetic gastroparesis with ondansetron, a highly selective antagonist of 5-hydroxytryptamine-3-receptors, resulted in a gastric emptying rate which was not statistically faster than after placebo (p = 0.11). © 1990 S. Karger AG, Basel.