[Simple method of measuring the physiological form the velocity of intestinal transit]

The velocity of intestinal transit was studied in 24 healthy volunteers using as a marker a small rubber bag which contained 7 to 10 microcuries of NaI 131. The bag was ingested and its passage along the digestive tract followed over the abdominal surface with the help of a collimated scintillation counter connected to an automatic counting system. The time elapsing since ingestion of the bag until its expulsion with feces was taken as the intestinal transit time. In a normal subject, transit of the bag was compared with the one of plastic radioopaque pellets whose passage along the intestine can be followed radiologically, and which at present are considered the best existent marker to measure velocity of intestinal transit. The bay and pellets progressed practically together along the digestive tract. The described method is thought to be very useful to measure in a phisiologic and simple way the velocity of intestinal transit.