The Radiological Examination of the Stomach and Duodenum

A study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of two different doses of a new hypotonizing agent, cimetropium bromide, as a premedication for X-ray of the stomach and duodenum. Forty consecutive patients were allocated at random to two groups and treated intravenously in double-blind fashion with 5 mg or 10 mg cimetropium bromide. The drug was administered immediately after the first phase of an upper gastro-intestinal series had been completed. Duration of the drug-induced hypokinesia was recorded fluoroscopically. The hypotonizing effect was evaluated by measuring the diameters of the gastric antrum, duodenal bulb and loop on the pre-injection and post-injection radiographs. In both groups, the relaxant effect started promptly (within 1 minute of injection) and lasted for an average of 10 minutes, which was considered adequate for the study. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in relaxant activity. The treatments were scored arbitrarily as 'excellent' in 75% of the examinations after the 10 mg dose and in 60% after the 5 mg dose. The difference between the two groups was not significant. Side-effects were few, of mild entity and not dose-related.