BACKGROUND/
AIMS: The effects of
Histamine -2 receptor antagonists and
proton pump inhibitors on the
gastrointestinal motility have not yet been sufficiently investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of intravenous bolus
administration of
famotidine and
omeprazole on the rate of
gastric emptying using the continuous 13C
breath test (BreathID system, Exalenz Bioscience Ltd,
Israel ).
METHODS: Twelve healthy
male volunteers participated in this randomized, 3-way
crossover study . After
fasting overnight, the subjects were randomly assigned to receive 20 mg of
famotidine , 20 mg of
omeprazole or 20 mL of saline alone by intravenous bolus
injection before a test
meal (200 kcal per 200 mL, containing 100 mg of 13C-
acetate ).
Gastric emptying was monitored for 4 hours after the
ingestion of test
meal by the 13C-
acetic acid breath test performed using the BreathID system.
RESULTS: No significant differences in the calculated
parameters , namely, the T1/2, Tlag, GEC, beta and kappa, were observed among the 3 test conditions.
CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that
intravenous administration of
gastric acid suppressant
drugs had no significant influence on the rate of
gastric emptying in comparison with that of saline alone as a placebo. Our results indicating the absence of any effect of either
famotidine or
omeprazole on accelerating the rate of
gastric emptying suggest that both medications can be administered safely to
patients suffering from hemorrhagic
peptic ulcers who need to be kept nil by
mouth from the
viewpoint of possible
acceleration of
gastrointestinal motility in the clinical setting.