Movement of segmental constrictions in the human colon.

Changes in the segmental pattern of opaque contents in the transverse colon among patients with diverticulosis were observed by means of time-lapse cinefluorography after ingestion of barium sulphate suspension. In some of them the muscular constrictions separating the opaque masses of bowel contents were seen to relax and later to re-form in a different spatial relationship to fixed points on the bowel wall represented by the necks of diverticula. In other instances ring contractions moved progressively along the bowel wall, temporarily occluding the necks of any diverticula they passed. Bowel contents were seen to be transported ahead of the advancing constrictions at varying rates and in either direction.