Colonic transit time after spinal cord injury: any clinical significance?

Both bowel dysfunction and increases in colonic transit time (CTT) are frequently observed in individuals with spinal cord injury; however, it is unknown whether there is an association between chronic intestinal problems and changes in CTTs. The current study investigates a possible relationship between the main intestinal symptoms of SCI patients and CTT values.

The following clinical variables and symptoms were investigated and collected in 30 individuals with SCI: total time for bowel care, abdominal pain, abdominal gas, success of rectal emptying, fecal incontinence, and decrease in quality of life. Total and segmental CTTs (right colon, left colon, and rectosigmoid colon) were assessed using radiopaque markers. The effects of the sociodemographic variables and the clinical symptoms on the different CTTs (total and segmental) were analyzed.

The assessed clinical conditions were observed in the following percentages of subjects: abdominal gas symptoms (70%), fecal incontinence (56%), abdominal pain (63%), total time for bowel care > 1 hour (11%), difficult rectal emptying (66%), and decrease in quality of life (36%). We also observed an increase in total CTT in 47% of subjects; increases in segmental CTT were found in the right colon in 23%, in the left colon (60%), and in the rectosigmoid segment (23%). Statistical analyses failed to show a significant difference in mean CTT values between the group of symptomatic patients (1 or more symptoms) and the group of asymptomatic patients. No significant difference could be detected in the incidence of each intestinal symptom between the group of participants with normal CTT values and those with abnormal CTT values. For each of the clinical data assessed separately, a significantly longer CTT (left colon) was associated with the lack of abdominal pain (P < .03) and the presence of fecal incontinence (P < .01); successful rectal emptying was associated with significantly shorter total (P < .02) and segmental CTTs for the left colon (P < .01) and rectosigmoid colon (P < .05).

Besides an association between shorter CTT and successful rectal emptying, there was little relationship between CTTs and intestinal symptoms in this study of patients with SCI.