[How reliable is the measurement of colonic transit time using a marker technique?]

Radioopaque markers are well established tools to determine segmental and total colonic transit time. However, since no data are available on intraindividual reproducibility, in this study reproducibility was assessed in 14 health male and 12 healthy female volunteers. The mean segmental colonic transit and total colonic transit time were not significantly different for the two measurements. Colonic transit time was consistently shorter in males than in females. The menstrual phase did not show a significant influence in the latter. The intraindividual variations of the colonic transit times were acceptable with a reproducibility coefficient of 20 h.