Does barium meal require fasting?

Barium meal is mainly used for gastrointestinal radiography. It cannot be used to diagnose gastric cancer, but it is very effective for preliminary screening. You need to be on an empty stomach when doing a barium meal because barium sulfate needs to be taken as a meal. Barium meal can be used to examine many diseases, for example, almost all gastrointestinal lesions can be examined.

Barium meal test

Gastrointestinal barium meal cannot be used to diagnose gastric cancer, but it can be used as a preliminary screening method for gastric cancer. If it is initially found that there may be gastric cancer, a fiber gastroscopy will be needed to further confirm it.

Barium meal radiography, also known as barium radiography of the digestive tract, is an examination method that uses barium sulfate as a contrast agent to show whether there are any lesions in the digestive tract under X-ray irradiation. Unlike barium enema, barium meal radiography involves the oral administration of contrast agents, which allows for clearer radiological examinations of the entire digestive tract, especially the upper digestive tract. The barium meal used for gastrointestinal examination is medicinal barium sulfate (i.e. a suspension of barium sulfate). Therefore, it is insoluble in water and lipids, and will not be absorbed by the gastrointestinal mucosa, so it is basically non-toxic to humans.

The barium meal requires you to be on an empty stomach because barium sulfate is taken as a meal, so you should not eat anything before taking it. After eating, food residues will be left in the gastrointestinal tract. When the food residues are mixed with barium sulfate, the development effect of barium sulfate will not be good enough. There is also water. If you drink liquid food, it will dilute the barium sulfate, making it difficult to apply it to the mucosal surface, which will also affect the development. This is the barium sulfate test. The patient is not allowed to eat or drink before the barium meal test.

What diseases can be detected by barium meal examination?

Barium meal examination was widely used before the application of CT. Almost all gastrointestinal lesions had to be examined and displayed by barium sulfate. However, as modern imaging equipment, including CT and MRI, are increasingly used in the abdomen, the barium meal examination is now subject to some limitations. However, it still has important value and position in observing the morphology and motility of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as larger lesions such as gastric cancer. Surgeons in particular would like to see a barium meal examination image before performing gastric surgery, which allows them to feel the location of the lesion and the function of the gastrointestinal tract in a more three-dimensional way. The various shapes of the stomach will also affect the choice of surgery.