Clinical significance of gastric juice viscosity in peptic ulcer patients

We developed a simple method of determining gastric juice viscosity using a cone plate viscometer and tested its clinical application in the staging of peptic ulcers. We found a significant positive correlation between viscosity and macromolecular glycoprotein concentration of gastric juice P<0.001).Gastric juice viscosity in active and healing gastric ulcer patients was significantly lower than that in the scarring stage or hospital control patients P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). In duodenal ulcer patients, a significant difference was found between the active and healing stages and hospital controls P<0.01). However, the difference between the active and healing stages and the scarring stage was not significant. Gastric juice viscosity is a simple, reliable, clinically useful measure.