[Measurement of colon transit time useful in the evaluation of functional constipation]

To determine the colon transit time (CTT) in patients complaining of functional constipation and the correlation between abnormal transit times and the types of constipation and of the symptoms.

Retrospective, descriptive.

Department of Surgery, University Hospital, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

The signs and symptoms of 112 patients with infrequent or difficult defaecation, 93 (83%) of them women, with a median age of 42 years (range: 16-72), were recorded by means of a questionnaire. After ingestion of radiopaque markers per day for 10 days, an abdominal survey X-ray was made on day 11. The numbers of markers in the X-ray and per segment (right and left hemicolon and rectosigmoid) were counted; the CTT in hours was calculated by multiplying this number by 2.4. Slowness was defined as more than 45 h for the total CTT and as more than 15 h for the segmental CTT.

The total CTT was normal in 33 patients (29%) and prolonged in 79 (71%). The CTT was prolonged only in the rectosigmoid in 14 patients with a normal CTT (42%) and in 50 patients with a prolonged total CTT (63%). Of the patients with a normal total CTT, 13 (39%) had a normal segmental CTT. No statistically significant correlation could be demonstrated between the presence of any symptom and a prolonged CTT.

Functional constipation may be associated with a normal CTT. Disorders of colonic motility and of rectal evacuation could be distinguished by measuring the total and the segmental colonic transit times.