[Clinical value of time course changes in postprandial intragastric acidity].

AIM: to study the level and duration of postprandial pH abnormalities in the body of the stomach in healthy individuals and in patients with duodenal peptic ulcer (DPU).

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

24-hour pH-metry was used to study the degree and duration of postprandial pH abnormalities in the body of the stomach in 50 healthy individuals and 188 patients with DPU.

RESULTS

Interdigestive gastric pH in healthy individuals was significantly higher than that in patients with DPU; food intake was followed by an 86 +/- 3.4% increase in pH, the latter returned to the baseline pH values within 64.7-70.3 minutes. In the uncomplicated course of DPU, the mean postprandial pH increase was comparable in the level and duration with the similar indices in healthy individuals. Complicated DPU was characterized by a short-term and insignificant increase in postprandial pH.

CONCLUSION

The mean postprandial pH increase and the time of its return to the baseline level in uncomplicated DPU were comparable with those in healthy individuals; there was a significant reduction in these indices in complicated DPU.