RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Assessment of the Practical Role of a Radionuclide Low-Fat-Meal Solid Gastric Emptying Study
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
JO J. Nucl. Med. Technol.
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 82
OP 85
VO 34
IS 2
A1 Vani Vijayakumar
A1 Elma G. Briscoe
A1 Theresa L. Boysen
A1 Yvette M. Jimenez
YR 2006
UL http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/34/2/82.abstract
AB The aim of this study was to assess the practical role of a low-fat-meal gastric emptying protocol and its effect on a patient's compliance and comfort, number of patient referrals, daily nuclear medicine scheduling, patient throughput, and cost-effectiveness. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients who underwent low-fat-meal gastric emptying studies between February 2003 and February 2004. The study was approved by the University of Texas Medical Branch institutional review board. Results: A total of 117 studies were identified. There were 36 males and 81 females. A total of 36 patients had prolonged gastric emptying (30.8%), and 5 patients had rapid emptying (4.3%). The test meal was well tolerated by 112 of 117 patients (95.8%); 5 patients were unable to complete the meal (4.3%). Conclusion: We found that patient tolerance, compliance, and comfort with the low-fat-meal gastric emptying protocol were excellent, increasing the number of patient referrals. In addition, the low-fat-meal protocol can accommodate more patients and hence can be beneficial for busy nuclear medicine sections with a necessity for high patient volumes; the protocol also is cost-effective.