1995•Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and PhysiologyRequires access
THE PROPORTIONAL CUMULATIVE AREA UNDER THE CURVE OF PARACETAMOL USED AS AN INDEX OF GASTRIC EMPTYING IN DIABETIC PATIENTS WITH SYMPTOMS OF GASTROPARESIS
M. van Wyk, De K. Sommers, J. R. Snyman, Joan Moncrieff
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Abstract
1. The foreshortened 2 h method of measuring liquid gastric emptying (i.e. the proportional cumulative area under the curve of paracetamol) was utilized in diabetic patients in order to detect both gastroparesis and the influence of metoclopramide, a known prokinetic drug, on this condition. 2. Metoclopramide, 10 mg intravenously, caused a significant increase in the median PCAUC from 20 min onwards. 3. In this study delayed gastric emptying was defined as a %PCAUC without pretreatment lower than the 5% percentile at 40, 60 and 90 min for normal volunteers. According to this criterion seven of the 10 patients with clinical symptoms of gastroparesis and/or peripheral neuropathy had delayed gastric emptying. 4. The PCAUC method would therefore seem to be a reliable model for investigating gastric emptying in diabetics and the effects of various prokinetic drugs on this condition.