Colonic transit time in nonidiopathic Parkinson's syndrome

Constipation is well known to be a frequent symptom in idiopathic Parkinson's disease. In this study, colonic transit time was measured in 16 patients with nonidiopathic Parkinson's syndrome (non-IPS). These patients all had lacunar infarcts in the caudate, putamen, or globus pallidus, as a cause of the disease, as demonstrated by MRI. In comparison with the control group there was only a slightly longer transit time with, on the whole, a normal transit time (about 59 h). In only five cases was the transit time significantly decreased. Our results suggest that colonic transit is only prolonged in patients with idiopathic PD, whereas it is normal in non-IPS. This seems to be cause by a multi-degenerative process in the idiopathic disease.