Effect of omeprazole on intragastric and duodenal bulb acidity in duodenal ulcer patients.

Intraluminal pH was measured simultaneously in the stomach and duodenal bulb with six small, glass electrodes tied together at 1.5-cm intervals. Ten patients with duodenal ulcer disease were studied under fasting conditions and for 3 h after a standard liquid meal on three occasions: day 1, before treatment; day 8, when the proton pump blocker omeprazole had been taken in a daily dose of 30 mg for 7 days consecutively, including the day of the pH study; day 9, 24 h after the last dose of omeprazole. Mean hydrogen ion activity and the percentage of time with pH below 3 was calculated from the digital pH data sampled at a frequency of 1 per second from each electrode. On day 8, five of the patients were permanently anacidic (pH greater than 4) in the stomach and duodenum, while the food-stimulation broke off anacidity for shorter periods in the other five patients. The pH pattern in the duodenal bulb was markedly altered in all patients with disappearance of the typical pH fluctuations, and a decrease in the time that the pH was below 3 from a median value of 30% before treatment to 0% in seven patients and close to 0% in three patients. On day 9, a large patient-to-patient variation was observed in gastric pH: three patients were still anacidic, four were markedly suppressed, but three patients reached near pre-treatment acidity. Duodenal bulb acidity was still decreased significantly on day 9 in all patients, with post-prandial pH below 3 for less than 5% of the time, compared with 30% before treatment.

Duodenal bulb acidity in patients with duodenal ulcer.

Intraluminal pH was measured simultaneously in the human stomach and proximal duodenum with six small glass electrodes tied together at 1.5-cm intervals. Twenty-four healthy control subjects and 44 patients with duodenal ulcer disease were studied under fasting conditions and for 3 h after a standard liquid meal. Mean and median hydrogen ion activity, percentage of time with pH below 2 and 3, and the frequency of pH fluctuations were calculated from digital pH data sampled at a frequency of once per second from each electrode. None of these measurements of acidity differed significantly between the two groups or between subgroups of normosecretor controls and hypersecretor ulcer patients. At the time of pH study 15 of the patients had endoscopically verified active ulcer disease and 13 patients were without disease activity. Gastric as well as duodenal bulb acidity was the same in these two subgroups. We conclude that even though duodenal ulcer patients deliver more acid into the duodenum, this does not cause increased luminal acid aggression.

Removing a retained placenta by oxytocin--a controlled study.

No increase in maternal plasma oxytocin concentration was detected after administration of 100 IU oxytocin into the umbilical veins of seven women immediately after delivery. The delivery of the placenta was accelerated after umbilical vein injection of 100 IU oxytocin in a placebo-controlled study of 40 women: 12 minutes (4 to 40) in the oxytocin group versus 40 minutes (29 to 40) in the placebo group (median and interquartile ranges), p less than 0.05.

Identification of the pylorus from the intraluminal pH profile. Validation of the method by comparing it with transpyloric potential difference and pressure profile.

In contrast to the steady low intragastric pH, the pH in the proximal duodenum shows wide, rapid, and frequent fluctuations. This change in pH pattern may be used to localize the pylorus and thereby ensure reproducible measurements of duodenal pH at a known and reproducible distance from the pylorus. To validate this method of localizing the pylorus, simultaneous measurements were performed of the transpyloric pH and potential difference (PD) profile and of the pH and pressure profile in 10 normal subjects. pH-metry and PD-metry localized the pylorus within the same 1.5 cm in 82% of 104 5-min periods, and pH-metry and manometry localized the pylorus within the same 5 cm in 72% of 77 10-min periods. This agreement and accuracy seem satisfactory for most studies of intraluminal pH in the duodenum and make reliable long-term ambulatory recording of duodenal pH possible without serial roentgenogram controls.