Assessment of barium impregnated polyethylene spheres (BIPS (R)) as a measure of solid-phase gastric emptying in normal dogs-comparison to scintigraphy

Barium impregnated polyethylene spheres (BIPS) are radiopaque markers used for investigation of a variety of gastrointestinal disorders, One proposed use of the small (1.5 mm) marker is quantitative assessment of solid-phase gastric emptying, which may offer a simple, inexpensive alternative to nucl ear medicine studies. In this study the rate and pattern of gastric emptyin g of a radiolabeled meal containing 30 small BIPS was evaluated in normal d ogs by simultaneous comparison of the radiopaque marker method and a scinti graphic method. Serial scintigraphic images and radiographs were obtained f or 8 hours or until 95% of the markers had left the stomach, Emptying curve s were constructed and statistical analyses performed. There were significa nt differences in gastric emptying times and lag phase characteristics betw een the BIBS and scintigraphic studies. These results indicate that in norm al dogs there are differences in both the rate and the pattern of solid-pha se gastric emptying of a radiolabeled meal as assessed by scintigraphy and the gastric emptying of small BIPS.