An Evaluation of Gastric Emptying Scintigraphy Protocols in Health Care Institutions When Compared with the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Procedure Guidelines

Article Figures & Data

TABLE 1.

Survey Questions

Category	Question
Demographic	1. What is your position?
	2. How many technologists work in your department (all positions: as needed, part-time, full-time)?
	3. Is your institution outside Indiana?
	4. If you answered yes to previous question, in which state/country is your institution?
	5. What type of facility is your institution?
	6. On average, how many GES studies are ordered/performed per month?
Patient preparation	7. Which pharmaceuticals must patients stop using before GES (check all that apply)?
	8. What is withholding time for pharmaceuticals listed in previous question?
	9. Are serum glucose levels tested before patients undergo GES?
Meal components and preparation	10. What protocol is used for patients who have albumin/egg allergy?
	11. What is used to radiolabel GES meal?
	12. Please list anything else that is part of meal (toast, jelly, butter, salt pepper, milk, etc.).
	13. Is GES meal radiolabeled before or after cooking?
	14. Which radiopharmaceutical is used for GES?
	15. What dose range is used for GES?
	16. Are patients required to eat their GES meal within a time limit?
Imaging protocol	17. What are the imaging interval times and total examination time (e.g., images at 1, 2, and 4 h and total time of 4 h)?
	18. Are patients allowed to drink water or fluids during intervals between imaging?
	19. What imaging views are required?

TABLE 2.

Summary of Demographic Data (n = 240) such as Institution Type, Position Type, and Number of Technologists in Department

Variable	Category	Frequency (n)	%
Institution type	Hospital (nonacademic)	137	57.0
	Academic	66	27.5
	Veterans Administration/military	8	3.3
	Outpatient	22	9.1
	Other	7	2.9
Position type	NMT	173	74.1
	Supervisor NMT	56	24
	Nuclear medicine physician	3	1.3
	NMT program director	1	0.4
	PET/CT technologist	2	0.8
	NMT instructor	1	0.4
	Student	3	1.3
	Other	1	0.4
Number of staff in department	1	18	7.5
	2	18	7.5
	3	55	22.9
	≥4	149	62.0

TABLE 3.

Standard Protocol Guidelines for Patient Preparation, Meal, and Radiolabeling of Meal

Category	Variable	Definition
Patient preparation	Withheld medications	Prokinetic agents: metoclopramide, tegaserod (Zelnorm; Alfasigma USA), domperidone, erythromycin, and cisapride; opiates; anticholinergic and antispasmodic agents; atropine, nifedipine, progesterone, octreotide, theophylline, benzodiazepine, and phentolamine
	Withholding time	2 d
	Blood glucose testing	Measurement of level before GES and inclusion in final report
Meal	Consensus meal^*	118 mL (4 oz) of liquid egg whites, 120 mL of water, 2 slices of toast, 30 g of jam or jelly
	Meal ingestion time	<10 min
Radiolabeling of meal	Radiopharmaceutical	^99mTc-SC
	Radiopharmaceutical dose	18.5–37 MBq (0.5–1.0 mCi)
	Radiolabeling method	Mixing of ^99mTc-SC with liquid egg whites before cooking

↵* All 4 listed ingredients and no other ingredients (e.g., no butter or juice).