Breath methane associated with slow colonic transit time in children with chronic constipation.
OBJECTIVE
This study analyzed the relationship between methane production and colonic transit time in children with chronic constipation.


METHODS
Forty children, from 3 to 13 years of age, suffering from chronic constipation were included. Methane production was defined when the breath methane concentration was greater than 3 ppm. The total and segmental colonic transit times were measured with radio-opaque markers.


RESULTS
Soiling was present in 34 (85.0%) of 40 patients with constipation. Methane production was present in 25 of 34 (73.5%) patients with constipation and soiling and only in 1 (16.7%) of 6 with constipation but without soiling (P = 0.014). The medians of total colonic transit time were 80.5 and 61.0 hours, respectively (P = 0.04), in methane and nonmethane producers. Segmental colonic transit times were 17.5 and 10.5 hours, respectively (P = 0.580), in right colon, 29.5 and 10.5 hours (P = 0.001), respectively, in left colon, and 31.5 and 27.0 hours (P = 0.202), respectively, in the rectosigmoid. By the sixth week of treatment, the reduction in the total colonic transit time was greater in patients who had become nonmethane producers.


CONCLUSIONS
The presence of breath methane in children with chronic constipation may suggest the possibility of prolonged colonic transit time.
Soares
Ana Cristina Fontenele
AC
Pediatric Gastroenterology Division, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Paulista School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Lederman
Henrique Manoel
HM
Fagundes-Neto
Ulysses
U
de Morais
Mauro Batista
MB
D000293:Adolescent; D001944:Breath Tests; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003248:Constipation / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005772:Gastrointestinal Transit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D008697:Methane