title: Digital ambulatory monitoring of small-bowel motility.
abstract: This paper describes a new technique for ambulatory long-term monitoring of small-bowel motility. Intraluminal pressure was measured with a silicon catheter with two strain-gauge transducers spaced 15 cm apart. Pressure data were stored in a portable memory unit. Initial studies showed that a recording frequency of 2 Hz was sufficient for obtaining reliable motility measurements. Twelve-hour recordings of motility in the upper jejunum were done in 12 healthy volunteers. After a 1964-kJ meal the median duration of fed-state motility was 4.6 h (3.4-5.3 h, interquartile range). The activity front of the migrating motor complex propagated with a velocity of 2.7-5.3 cm/min, and the median cycle length was 77 (40-103) min. The frequency of contractions in the activity front was 11.4 (10.9-11.6)/min at the proximal transducer. This new technique enables small-bowel motility to be monitored over longer periods of time and with much less inconvenience to the patient than previously used methods.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Dept. of Medicine, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwarzon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stål
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seensalu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000502:physiology*; D007441:Intubation, Gastrointestinal; D008297:Male; D008365:Manometry; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011312:Pressure; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted