Gastric Analysis

The renaissance of interest in the gastric mucosa has produced both a more exact knowledge of the physiology of gastric secretion and new tools for clinical application. Recent investigations have resulted in the demonstration of four distinct human pepsinogens and pepsins1and the isolation of two pure gastrins.2Tubeless tools are available to determine the capability of gastric mucosa to secrete acid, pepsinogens, and intrinsic tumor. Intubation techniques allow estimation of parietal cell population (maximum acid output)3and determination of the percentage of the parietal cells secreting under basal conditions and after vagotomy. Assay methods4,5have been developed to measure intrinsic factor in gastric juice aspirate. All this signifies that gastric analysis is not only a test to determine the acidity of aspirated gastric juice, but also a means to measure the basal and maximum acid outputs and the capability of the gastric mucosa to secrete