Computer analysis of pressure tracings from the sphincter of Oddi

Since the sphincter of Oddi exhibits very regular phasic motor activity it offers itself to the design of a simple computer program in the analysis of gastrointesinal motility. This investigation is the first attempt of a practical application of such a computer program. The signals coming out of the pressure preamplifier are submitted to active filtering in order to prevent aliasing and then to analog to digital conversion. After being fed into a computer they are precessed in a number of controllable and adaptable steps before the final analysis. Computer analysis then yields a detailed quantitative print out of a large variety of variables which compares very favourably with the visual analysis. It speeds up the time of analysis and allows for a study of long-term recording. Computer analysis of pressure tracings from the sphincter of Oddi may serve as a model for a study of motor activity of all parts of the digestive tract with this modern method of data handling.