[Topographic rapid pH-metry. Possibilities and prospects of use in the functional diagnosis of stomach diseases].

More than 700 patients were examined by rapid intragastric pH-metry with the use of original pH-microtubes and K -2 device. Numerous advantages of the method were observed: the tube is easy to introduce into the stomach, the procedure is short, there are no contraindications against it, it involves no complications, pH values can be recorded along the entire stomach (30 cm) with just 1 cm intervals (topographic pH-metry). Diagnostic potentialities of the method are limited because there are no standard pH values for each specific site of the stomach under conditions of basal and stimulated secretion. To specify the standard values. 30 normal subjects and 40 patients with various gastric diseases were examined. Prevailing pH values at all sites of the stomach in health and disease both in basal and pentagastrin-stimulated secretion were established. To make the results more objective, the authors distinguish such parameters as the intermediate and maximal acidity zones, and carry out variation statistical analysis of pH-grams with plotting the variation statistical curves. Reliable differences in all the examined parameters in normal subjects and patients with initial gastric hypo- and hyperacidity were detected. Pentagastrin test is recommended for all patients with initial hypoacidity during express pH-metry. The proposed methods of statistical processing of express pH-grams and the established standard values appreciably extend the diagnostic potentialities of rapid pH-metry of the stomach.