Anorexia, nausea, and vomiting are one of the most frequent symptoms in viral hepatits patients. These may be due to poorly detoxified substances by dysfunctioned hepatocytes or by gastritis, but the pathophysiology is not totally understood. The
symptoms interfere with adequate nutrient intake and are managed by metoclopramide, which accelerates gastric emptying. Thus delayed gastric emptying may well be a contributing factor to such symptoms. To determine such a relationship, we
measured
gastric emptying time in 11 normal subjects, 9 acute (AVH), and 12 chronic B viral hepatitis (CVH) patients. All were males with a mean age of 23 years. An egg was labeled with 0.5 mCi of 99m Tc-sulfur colloid, fried, then eaten between 2 slices
of
bread with 100 cc of water. Anterior and posterior images were taken at 20 minute intervals over a 2 hour period. A geometric mean of activity pertaining to the gastric region was measured, and T 1/2 was calculated from the time activity curve. T
1/2
for normal the group was 57.8±6.3 minutes while that for the AVH and CVH group was 58.2±8.2 (p=0.40) and 64.1±10.5 (p=0.09), respectively. There was 1 AVH patient and 4 CVH patients with prolonged T 1/2. Anorexia and nausea was seen in 71% and
46% of
the patients, respectively. 80% and 60% of the patients with prolonged T 1/2 had anorexia and nausea, respectively.
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