Satiety testing: Ready for the clinic?

Drink tests are advocated as an inexpensive, noninvasive technique to assess gastric function in patients with a variety of upper digestive symptoms. Many patients with dyspeptic complaints will achieve satiation or develop symptoms at ingested volumes below those typically required to achieve these endpoints in controls. Substantial variation in test performance exists and a greater degree of standardization is required. Additionally, it remains unclear exactly what drink tests measure as correlations with measures of gastric sensation, accomodation and emptying are modest at best. Finally, results of drink tests do not guide therapy. At present, these tests are best reserved for research studies and are not advocated for use in clinical practice.