Ultrasonographic assessment of the rate of solid-phase gastric emptying in dogs

Twelve healthy dogs were used in an ultrasonographic assessment of the effect of the composition of a solid meal on the rate of gastric emptying. The dogs were fasted for nine hours before they were fed either a standard or a high energy density test meal, in a cross-over study design. The gastric antrum was visualised with a 6-5 MHz microconvex transducer, and the area inside the elliptical shape defined by the craniocaudal and ventrodorsal diameters of the stomach was measured. Antral images were acquired at regular intervals for six hours after the ingestion of the test meal. Three indices to describe the rate of gastric emptying were computed: the gastric half-emptying time (t(1/2)), the time to 50 per cent maximal antral area (t(50%)), and the time of maximal antral area (t(max)). The values of t(50%) and t(1/2) calculated for the high energy density meals were significantly longer than for the standard meals, but there was no significant difference between the t(max) values.