Delayed Gastric Emptying of Both the Liquid and Solid Components of a Meal in Chronic Liver Disease

Abstract

Comment: The observation that the gastric emptying rate is 50% of normal on average in patients with cirrhosis might be relevant to anesthesia. Patients may be more likely to vomit or have larger gastric contents at the time of surgery. Also, the rate of absorption of orally administered drugs will be slower. This might be important for analgesics and antibiotics among others. Closer scrutiny of the data suggests that there are two populations of patients with respect to solid emptying, and this has been reported previously. One group has relatively normal gastric emptying, and the other group has quite marked delay. Perhaps patients with delayed gastric emptying are more likely to develop hepatic disease.