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US 5,707,602 AGranted
Measurement of gastric emptying
AssigneeMeretek Diagnostics
InventorPeter D. Klein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A biscuit adapted to be ingested by a patient to enable measurement of gastric emptying has added prior to baking Spirulina Platensis alga grown in a .sup.13 CO.sub.2 atmosphere. These single cell organisms are oxidized after digestion in the small intestine to produce a detectible rise in level of .sup.13 CO.sub.2 in the patient's breath which is sampled and plotted to enable diagnosis of abnormal gastric emptying rates.
Claims9
A method of measuring gastric emptying time comprising the steps of:
- preparing a biscuit containing an edible photosynthetic alga labeled with a carbon isotope, having a patient ingest said biscuit so that the carbon labeled nutrients therein are absorbed in the small intestine and oxidized to labeled CO.sub.2 ;
- and detecting the level of CO.sub.2 in breath samples taken from the patient at periodic intervals to determine the rate of gastric emptying.
A food adapted to be ingested by a patient in connection with a gastric emptying test, comprising:
- a biscuit having added thereto prior to baking photosynthetic single cell organisms grown in an atmosphere high in .sup.N CO.sub.2 so that when oxidized a detectible rise in the .sup.N CO.sub.2 content of the patient's breath is produced, N being one of the numbers 13 and 14.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.