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Updated: Aug 24, 2026
Spatiotemporal Mapping of Motility in Ex Vivo Preparations of the Intestines
Published on: January 27, 2016
Colonic regular contractile frequency patterns in irritable bowel syndrome: the 'spastic colon' revisited
Gabrio Bassotti1, Francis Sietchiping-Nzepa, Giuseppe De Roberto
1Gastrointestinal and Hepatology Section, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Perugia, Italy.
Background:
Irritable bowel syndrome is a frequent gastrointestinal disorder of which the pathophysiological basis is still not completely understood. Among the various proposed mechanisms, colonic motility may play a role, at least in a subset of patients.
Aims:
To investigate the regular colonic contractile patterns in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Our working hypothesis was that an increase of these patterns in such condition might represent a motility equivalent of the so-called 'spastic colon'.
Patients And Methods:
Twelve patients of both genders were investigated by means of 24 h colonic manometry, and the results were compared to those from 20 healthy controls. Regular contractile patterns (with frequencies ranging from 2 to 8 per min) were calculated for the entire recording period and in single colonic segments.
Results:
Overall, colonic frequency patterns were significantly more frequent in patients than controls (12.6% vs 6.4% of the total contractile activity, P < 0.001); in both groups, the 3 cycles/min frequency was predominant, especially in the sigmoid colon. More than 40% patients displayed a correlation between abdominal pain and occurrence of regular contractile frequencies.
Conclusions:
Abnormal colonic motility may play some role in the pathogenesis of symptoms related to irritable bowel syndrome, with an excess of regular contractile activity related to the so-called 'spastic colon'.
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