Evaluation of the Heidelberg pH capsule. Method of tubeless gastric analysis.

Over the past few years there has been an apparent increase in interest in various methods of gastric analysis. The diagnostic and therapeutic implications of the results of the various types of gastric analyses have recently been re-examined by several authors [l-8]. The augmented histamine stimulation test has gained increasingly wide acceptance by clinicians. Growing experience with this method of gastric analysis has indicated it to be reliable and reproducible. This method of gastric analysis is currently the standard procedure at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Charleston, South Carolina. In the interest of simplifying the methodology of the augmented histamine stimulation test while retaining its reliability, a modification suggested by Stavney et al. [9] and others [JO,111 has been adopted. It consists primarily of intragastric titration of acid monitored by the Heidelberg pH telemetering capsule. Results obtained from the augmented histamine stimulation test utilizing the Heidelberg pH capsule have been compared to those results obtained by the standard nasogastric tube aspiration technic. The method and comparative results are presented herein.