Abstract
Reflectance spectrophotometry Model TS-200 (Sumitomo Electric Industry Co.), newly developed for the measurement of mucosal blood flow, was tested to examine the reproducibility of the measurement of gastric mucosal blood flow in humans and dogs.Experimentally, hemoglobin volumes in the gastric mucosa in dogs were measured with high reproducibility, when the tip of optical fiber bundle was adequately contacted to the mucosal surface of the incised stomach. Hemoglobin volume measured by this method were thought to be reflecting the gastric mucosal blood flow because hemoglobin volumes were elevated in response to the administration of epinephrine. In the clinical examination performed during gastrof iberscopy, however, it was not easy to keep the fiber bundle tipcontacted adequately to the gastric mucosal surface because of peristaltic or respiratorymovement. Consequently, the rate of S. E, to the mean value of hemoglobin volumes from 5 measurments at the same mucosal point was 10 to 18%. To overcome the problem, the instrument should be equipped with the excellent contact sensor in the fiber bundle tip and the built-in computor to select approriate reflectance spectra. Illumination by gastroscopy and the air for inflation of the stomach were pointed out as factors gave an influence on the measurement of hemoglobin volume, while intramuscular injection of butropium bromide gave little influence on it.
