Duodenal ulcer disease, gastroduodenal motor function and reflux esophagitis--a cross-sectional survey in a subset of Taiwanese patients.

Background: To investigate the association between the gastric emptying rate and the presence of erosive esophagitis in duodenal ulcer (DU) patients among a population with high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey was performed in a cohort of 60 male patients with either active or healed DU, with or without the presence of erosive esophagitis. Clinical and social-demographic data, blood level of fasting gastrin, pepsinogen I & I/II ratio, and scintigraphic measurement of half emptying time (t(1/2) ) of the solid phase gastric emptying were evaluated.

Key Results: Patients with active DU and erosive esophagitis tended to have higher plasma level of fasting gastrin than those without erosive esophagitis (75.11±13.74 vs 45.81±5.06pgmL(-1) , P = 0.059). In the absence of H. pylori infection, patients with healed DU and erosive esophagitis had a trend to have longer half-emptying time (t(1/2) : 96.5±6.4 vs 69.1±11.3min, P=0.0572) than those without erosive esophagitis, and statistically significant longer after excluding those diagnosed with hiatal hernia (t(1/2) : 100.8±7.9min vs 69.1±11.3min, P<0.05) from the former group. Among the healed DU patients, those with negative H. pylori infection, hiatal hernia and overweight (body mass index ≥24) had significantly increased risk of severe esophagitis.

Conclusions & Inferences: Presence of erosive esophagitis in a subset of Taiwanese patients with healed DU and negative H. pylori status was associated with slower solid phase gastric emptying.