[Patients with liver cirrhosis: mouth-cecum transit time and gastric emptying of solid foods].

As altered gastrointestinal motility could be involved in the pathogenesis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth observed in liver cirrhosis, we investigated mouth to caecum transit time (MCTT) and solid meal gastric emptying (SMGE) in patients with cirrhosis. MCTT was estimated in 20 cirrhotics and 12 healthy controls using lactulose hydrogen breath test. SMGE was measured in 12 patients with cirrhosis and 27 controls by means of 99-m Tc-sulphur colloid labelling egg albumin and gamma scintigraphy. T1/2 and percentage of marker remaining in stomach (MRS) at 60, 90, and 120 min were calculated. MCTT was prolonged in patients with cirrhosis (111 +/- 7 min) compared to controls (83 +/- 6 min; p < 0.02). No significant differences were demonstrated in SMGE t1/2 between controls (84 +/- 5 min) and cirrhotics (91 +/- 6 min). Also, MRS was similar in patients with cirrhosis and healthy controls at 60, 90 and 120 min. We conclude that MCTT is prolonged in patients with cirrhosis. In addition, our data suggest that pyloruscaecum component plays the main role in delaying orocaecal transit time in cirrhosis.