Dyspepsia is a common complaint in patients presenting with
gallstone disease. Since the stomach appears to be its site of origin, the present study was undertaken to assess gastric emptying in patients with
gallstone disease and to find out its correlation with dyspeptic symptoms before and after
cholecystectomy. Gastric emptying (t1/2) was prospectively assessed in 43 patients with symptomatic
gallstones (29 with and 14 without
dyspepsia). These data were compared with that of 20 healthy volunteers (control group). Delayed gastric emptying (> 112 min: mean + 2 s.d. of the control group) was observed in 18 patients (42%; P < 0.002), 10 of whom presented with
dyspepsia and eight without (NS). Re-evaluation in 18 of the 29 patients with
dyspepsia, 3 months after
cholecystectomy, revealed complete disappearance of symptoms in three, improvement in 11 and no change in four patients. After 6 months, two patients had reverted back to their pre-operative dyspeptic status; resulting in three patients completely cured, nine partially cured and six without any change in their dyspeptic status at this time. Gastric emptying was delayed in nine of the 18 patients before
cholecystectomy. After
cholecystectomy, normal emptying was observed in all but one patient (P < 0.005). Dyspeptic symptoms, however, completely disappeared in one patient, improved in five and remained unchanged in three. In the remaining nine patients, gastric emptying was normal both before and after
cholecystectomy.
Gallstone disease is associated with delayed gastric emptying but this delay was not the cause of
dyspepsia in these patients.
Cholecystectomy normalizes gastric emptying, a finding that has not been reported previously.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)