Abstract
Objective: It is difficult to clearly detect the anterior wall of the stomach over a wide range by double contrast gastro-fluoroscopy in the prone position and this technique tends to increase the mental and physical stress of examinees. We made our own special pillow to resolve these problems and studied its effectiveness.
Methods: We studied the effectiveness of the pillow in 500 examinees (335 males, 165 females) who visited our health care center between February, 2009 and June, 2009 by evaluating the extent to which the anterior wall could be clearly detected in double contrast gastro-fluoroscopy with and without the homemade pillow. We also evaluated the effectiveness of the homemade pillow for each stomach type (long stomach, normal stomach, short stomach). Double contrast fluoroscopy of the gastric anterior wall was performed within 10 degrees of the head-down position in order to decrease mental and physical stress in the examinees.
Results: The extent that the anterior wall could be clearly detected by double contrast fluoroscopy was significantly increased with the pillow compared to without it, and this was so for all stomach types. We also found that the use of the pillow reduced mental and physical stress in examinees.
Conclusions: These results suggest that our homemade pillow is useful as regards detection of the anterior wall of the stomach and decreasing mental and physical stress in examinees undergoing double contrast fluoroscopy of the gastric anterior wall.
