Scintigraphy vs. mechanical magnetogastrography: gastric emptying analysis

Abstract

Scintigraphy technique is considered the gold standard for gastric emptying evaluations. Lately mechanical magnetogastrography (MMG) technique has emerged as an alternative for these assessments. This study presents the determination of reference values for MMG in order to validate this novel technique in gastric emptying measurements. Both methodologies were used in young and healthy subjects provided with a solid test meal. The measurements were performed with 2 days of difference. Bland-Altman analysis of the data was performed to conclude about the feasibility of MMG as a good alternative test for gastric emptying assessments. Using MMG, an average of the gastric emptying half-time of 57.6 +/- 25.8 min was obtained, whereas the same parameter obtained by scintigraphy was 52.2 +/- 12.9 min. In conclusion, the use of MMG technique is in concordance with the results using the gold standard technique for gastric emptying measurements.