Do gastrointestinal transit times and colonic dimensions change with time since spinal cord injury?

Long-term follow-up study.

To determine whether gastrointestinal transit times (GITTs) and colonic dimensions change during the first or subsequent decades after spinal cord injury (SCI).

Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

GITT and colonic dimensions were evaluated by means of radio-opaque markers. Group A (n=12) was investigated 1 year after SCI and again 13 (range 11-14) years later. Group B (n=10) was studied 19 (range 9-36) years after injury and again 12 (range 11-12) years later. All had been treated with conservative bowel management.

In group A, the median GITT 1 year after injury was 4.3 (range 1.1-6.5) days and 13 years later, it was 3.2 (range 1.3-6.5) days, P=0.96. In group B, the median GITT 19 year after injury was 3.4 (range 0.6-5.9) days and 12 years later, it was 3.2 (range 1.9-5.5) days, P=0.77. None of the two groups experienced a significant change in the diameter of the caecum/ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon or the sigmoid during long-term follow-up. Megacolon was present in four patients at baseline and in five at follow-up.

GITTs and colonic dimensions did not change, neither during the first decade nor long after SCI.