[Effect of fever on gastric emptying and on serum gastrin levels]. / Efecto de la fiebre sobre el vaciamiento gástrico y los niveles séricos de gastrina.

We studied the effect of fever on gastric emptying and serum gastrin 17 levels. 8 patients with fever and normal gastric emptying were selected. Blood samples were obtained for measuring serum gastrin 17. We used Tc99m scintiscanning to measure gastric emptying. Differences between fever and normal temperature were significant. Gastric emptying in fever was 118 +/- 54 minutes and 55 +/- 22 minutes for normal temperature (p less than .01). Serum gastrin was 47.7 +/- 13 pg/ml in normal temperature and with febrile patients was 30 +/- 5.7 pg/ml (p less than .002). We conclude that fever retards gastric emptying, perhaps independently of serum gastrin level.