THE MEASUREMENT AND RECORDING OF GASTRODUODENAL BLOOD FLOW IN MAN BY MEANS OF A THERMAL GRADIENTOMETER 1

Measurement of blood flow in the intact human gut is desirable, not only because of its signifi-cance in physiological and pharmacological prob-lems, but also because circulatory changes may be implicated in the mechanism of peptic ulcera-tion. Studies on intestinal blood flow involving extensive surgical procedures with cannulation of arteries and veins have been carried out on ani-mals (1 to 6), but the observations for the most part are contradictory, and, at best, deductions derived from them cannot be applied directly to human conditions. In other, studies, inferences about the intestinal blood flow have been drawn from direct inspection of changes in calibre of the serosal vessels (7) and changes in color o