Duodenogastric bile reflux in patients with gastric ulcer.

The duodenogastric bile reflux rate in 33 patients with gastric ulcer is compared with the rates in 33 non-ulcer patients. Duodenogastric bile reflux was measured by a non-invasive isotope method using 99mTc-diethyliminodiacetic acid. Reflux occurred significantly oftener in the ulcer patients (27 of 33) than in the non-ulcer patients (14 of 33) (p less than 0.01) but did not differ significantly in quantity between these two groups. The results suggest that the magnitude of bile reflux cannot be used to distinguish between ulcer patients and non-ulcer patients.