Quantitative measurement of human colonic electrical activity by a micro-computerized system

This paper describes a rapid and reproducible technique for the quantitative analysis of colonic myoelectrical activity in man. The analysis of EMG signals from the left colon was performed upon 4-channel tape records and consisted of the recognition of the different kinds of spike bursts and the separate measurement of their total duration and number. These values are established and printed for successive 5-min periods. For each channel the printing program gives a histogram of the duration of each kind of spike bursts for 5-min periods during 4-6 h. This program has been tested for a series of comparative measurements before and after a meal in healthy man.