A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS ANESTHETIC AGENTS ON THE EMPTYING TIME OF THE STOMACH

¹ From the Department of Physiology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia

Four normal dogs, previously accustomed to the procedure, were used in this work. The normal emptying time of the stomach of each dog was determined by repeated fluoroscopic examinations, using a standard opaque meal. The effects of six anesthetic agents on gastric emptying time were studied. All were found to prolong gastric emptying time: chloroform by 64 per cent; ether by 40 per cent; nitrous oxide by 15 per cent; ethylene, cyclopropane and divinyl oxide each by about 7 per cent. It is felt that the severe anoxemia (5 per cent oxygen) accompanying the nitrous oxide anesthesia probably explains the longer delay with nitrous oxide than with the other gases.

It is suggested that the data presented may be correlated with previous work quoted in this paper to throw some light on the reason why chloroform and ether are more prone than the other agents to be followed by paralytic ileus.

Finally, it is suggested that the general results obtained raise the question as to whether gastric motility may not be used as a criterion of general bodily response to certain external or environmental agencies.