In irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), abnormalities of motility have been observed in the esophagus and small bowel, as well as in the colon. In order to investigate gastric function, gastric emptying has been measured in 25 patients with strictly defined IBS and compared with 25 age- and sex-matched controls. A standard radioisotope method for measuring gastric emptying has been employed. There was no significant difference between the two groups (T1/2 gastric emptying, IBS subjects 99.3 +/- 9.4 min, control subjects 104.0 +/- 11.9 min, mean +/- SEM), nor was there any major correlation between different symptom patterns and altered gastric emptying times. The results of the present investigation suggest that future studies on abnormalities in IBS should investigate other aspects of gastric motor function.