Intestinal transit time in constipated and non-constipated geriatric patients.

Intestinal transit was measured by following a radioisotope capsule through the gut. The transit in 16 elderly patients with chronic constipation was compared with that in 16 patients of the same age and with 10 healthy younger people without constipation. Although the constipated patients generally had a slower total transit time through the gut, some old and young people without constipation also showed a slow total transit. Constipated patients had a significantly slower transit only through the rectosigmoidal part of the colon. It is also suggested that old age per se does not imply an increased transit time.