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Six-hour food and barium retention test

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Abstract

A 6-hour upright abdominal X-ray film, taken after ingestion of a standardized breakfast meal tagged with barium, is very helpful in properly evaluating gastric outlet stenosis and gastric retention. This X-ray may indicate outlet stenosis, with impairment of gastric emptying in the absence of symptoms or typical findings by conventional X-ray examination. It may also be used to evaluate improvement in gastric emptying after medical therapy of manifest abnormal retention. Thus, this simple procedure has diagnostic and prognostic value, and should be used in conjunction with X-ray examination and fiberoptic gastroscopy.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Richard J. Tester MD

    Present address: Department of Gastroenterology, Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Bellflower, Calif

Authors and Affiliations

  1. From the Gastroenterology Section, Veterans Administration Hospital, Long Beach, Calif

    Stephen J. Stempien MD, Richard J. Tester MD & Angelo E. Dagradi MD

Authors
  1. Stephen J. Stempien MD
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  2. Richard J. Tester MD
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  3. Angelo E. Dagradi MD
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Additional information

The authors would like to thank Marvin Smith, technician; Elaine Jewett, secretary; and Timothy Dodge, illustrator, for their invaluable assistance. The cooperation of the Radiology Service, so essential to this study, is much appreciated.

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Stempien, S.J., Tester, R.J. & Dagradi, A.E. Six-hour food and barium retention test. Digest Dis Sci 16, 395–402 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235083

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235083

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