Gastrointestinal transit of undigestible solids measured by metal detector EAS II.

A new method was developed to measure gastrointestinal transit: a metal particle is followed on its way through the gastrointestinal tract by means of a portable metal detector. Deviation of measured localization of the metal particle from the exact site was 0.5-1.0 cm depending on its size and distance from the search probe. A metal sphere of 6 mm diameter can be located accurately in the body at a distance of 2-12 cm from the abdominal surface. Emptying of a metal particle from the stomach, its arrival at the caecal area and its passage through the colon into the rectum can be registered and hence, gastric residence time, small intestinal transit and transit through different parts of the colon were determined. Gastric residence time at the interdigestive phase was (mean +/- SD) 67 +/- 52 min in 20 persons with a range of 9-185 min. When gastric emptying was recorded by pH sensitive radiotelemetering capsule in 10 persons, correlation of both methods was r = 0.99. Small intestinal transit averaged 110 +/- 56 min in six healthy volunteers when breakfast was eaten after the marker had left the stomach. It was delayed to 218 +/- 34 min (P less than 0.01) when fasting was continued. Large intestinal transit of the metal marker was compared to whole body transit of radio-opaque ('Hinton') markers. In nine normal persons, 70% of the Hinton markers were excreted together with the metal particle. It is concluded that this new method is suitable for studying a large variety of physiological, pathophysiological and pharmacological questions concerning gastrointestinal transit.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)