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Published on: October 7, 2014
Reproducibility and validity of radiographically determined gastrointestinal and segmental colonic transit times in
S Media1, P Christensen, I Lauge
1Viborg Hospital, Viborg, Denmark.
Background:
Total gastrointestinal transit times (GITT) and segmental colonic transit times (CTT) are commonly used to describe bowel function in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Study Design:
Reproducibility study.
Objectives:
To describe inter- and intrasubjective as well as interobserver variations in GITT and segmental CTT in patients with SCI. Furthermore, to study associations between GITT or segmental CTT and colorectal symptoms.
Setting:
Spinal Cord Unit, Viborg Hospital, Denmark.
Methods:
Thirty SCI patients took 10 radio-opaque markers on 6 consecutive days and an abdominal X-ray was taken on day 7. The same procedure was repeated after 3 months. GITT and CTT were computed from the number of markers in the entire colorectum and in the left and the right colon. Intra- and interobserver variations were described as dispersion (numerical difference/mean).
Results:
Intersubjective variation was large for GITT (range: 0.6-6.3 days), right CTT (range: 0.1-5.5 days) and left CTT (range: 0-4.9 days). Intrasubjective variation was acceptable for GITT (dispersion: 0.28) but less good for right (dispersion: 0.63) and left CTT (dispersion: 0.68). Interobserver variation was very small. No correlations were found between GITT, right or left CTT and colorectal symptoms.
Conclusion:
GITT and right and left CTT are of limited value for clinical decision-making in individual patients but may be useful for comparison of groups of patients with SCI.
