Helping you achieve your diagnosis so you can enjoy eating again.

Gastroparesis is a disorder that slows or stops the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine. Diabetic, postsurgical and idiopathic (unknown) causes comprise the majority of cases. Gastroparesis also occurs in post viral patients, patients with refractory symptoms of GERD, functional dyspepsia, neurological disorders such as Parkinson disease and with administration of some pharmacologic agents such as narcotic pain relievers.

Per the Mayo Clinic, symptoms of gastroparesis include:

• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Belly bloating
• Belly pain
• Feeling full after eating just a few bites and long after eating a meal
• Vomiting undigested food eaten a few hours earlier
• Acid reflux
• Changes in blood sugar levels
• Not wanting to eat
• Weight loss and not getting enough nutrients, called malnutrition

The test meal is composed of 27 grams of scrambled egg mix containing 100 mg of Carbon-13 Spirulina (roughly equivalent to 2 scrambled eggs), 6 Saltine Crackers and 6 ounces of water.

Nutritional Information

Ingredients (scrambled egg): Desugared whole eggs, Dry non-fat milk solids, Salt, Smoke Flavoring (Char Oil), ¹³C-labeled Spirulina.

Ingredients (saltine crackers): Unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate {vitamin b1}, riboflavin {vitamin b2}, folic acid), soybean and/or canola oil, palm oil, sea salt, salt, malted barley flour, baking soda, yeast. Contains: wheat.

Meal Nutritional/Energy Values Fat 9.8g, Carb 18g, Fiber 0g, Protein 13g, Sodium 636mg. 230kCal

Spirulina is a safe, edible, highly digestible blue-green algae that is often consumed as a nutritional supplement. The spirulina used in the GEBT is grown in a dedicated drug manufacturing facility. In the GEBT meal, the spirulina is tasteless.

Do not have solid foods or liquids (including alcohol) for eight hours prior to having the test.

You can have four ounces of water up to one hour before the test.

When you are scheduled for the test, check with your doctor to be sure you are not on any medications that might influence the test.

If you are diabetic, notify your doctor or test administrator before taking the test. Your glucose level must be below 275 mg/dl the morning of the test.

You should not take another carbon-13 based breath test, (e.g. h. pylori breath test) for 24 hours prior to your GEBT.

You will need a microwave, drinking water, and a smart device that allows video calls (or assistance).

1. You will collect two breath samples before eating the GEBT test meal, while under the supervision of a telehealth administrator. You will take a deep breath and exhale into a glass tube through a plastic straw.
2. Next, you will use a microwave to prepare a special meal of scrambled eggs with spirulina. In addition to the eggs, you will need to consume six saltine crackers and drink six ounces of water within ten minutes.
3. After you finish the meal, you will then collect six more breath samples over a four hour period of time under the guidance of a telehealth administrator. You will collect these samples in the same manner you did the first two — by taking a deep breath and exhaling into a glass tube through a plastic straw. The administrator will calculate the collection times of your six breath samples.
4. Your first sample will be collected 45 minutes after you finish the test meal. Additional samples will be taken at 90, 120, 150, 180, and 240 minutes after finishing the test meal. In the time between taking samples, you should sit quietly and refrain from vigorous activity while your stomach empties and your intestines digest the meal you have eaten.When the GEBT is completed, the breath samples and test request form will be packaged and shipped to the laboratory for analysis.

No. Unlike other tests that may be used to measure how your stomach is emptying, the GEBT does not use any radioactive materials. It uses a safe, naturally occurring form of carbon to measure how fast your stomach empties.

We would be happy to help. In order to take the test, you need a prescription written by your provider.

You can take these resources to your provider.

Please click HERE to see our billing process.