ABSTRACT
Introduction A wide variety of nuclear medicine examinations are available for studying the
function of the gastrointestinal tract. Tests include assessment of salivary gland func tion; motility studies of the esophagus, stomach, small and large bowel; measuring substrate absorption; localization of gastrointestinal bleeding; detection of Meckel’s diverticulum (covered in Chapter 17) and tests for inflammatory bowel disease (cov ered in Chapter 12). This Chapter is not meant to be exhaustive but rather will concentrate on some of the more important and commonly requested tests.
