TRANSIT TIME ( OCTT ) MRI OCTT test

Background Colonic transit tests are used to manage patients with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. Some tests used expose patients to ionizing radiation. The aim of this study was to compare novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests for measuring orocecal transit time (OCTT) and whole gut transit time (WGT), which also provide data on colonic volumes. Methods 21 healthy volunteers participated. Study 1: OCTT was determined from the arrival of the head of a meal into the cecum using MRI and the Lactose Ureide breath test (LUBT), performed concurrently. Study 2: WGT was assessed using novel MRI marker capsules and radio-opaque markers (ROMs), taken on the same morning. Studies were repeated 1 week later. Key Results OCTT measured using MRI and LUBT was 225 min (IQR 180–270) and 225 min (IQR 165– 278), respectively, correlation rs = 0.28 (ns). WGT measured using MRI marker capsules and ROMs was 28 h (IQR 4–50) and 31 h 3 (SEM), respectively, correlation rs = 0.85 (p < 0.0001). Repeatability assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.45 (p = 0.017) and 0.35 (p = 0.058) for MRI and LUBT OCTT tests. Better repeatability was observed for the WGT tests, ICC being 0.61 for the MRI marker capsules (p = 0.001) and 0.69 for the ROM method (p < 0.001) respectively. Conclusions & Inferences The MRI WGT method is simple, convenient, does not use X-ray and compares well with the widely used ROMmethod. Both OCTT measurements showed modest reproducibility and the MRI method showed modest inter-observer agreement. Address for Correspondence Prof Robin C. Spiller, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Biomedical Research Unit, Queen’s Medical Centre, E Floor, West Block, Nottingham University Hospitals, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 115 8231090; fax: +44 (0) 115 8231409; e-mail: [email protected] Received: 2 July 2013 Accepted for publication: 23 September 2013 © 2013 The Authors. Neurogastroenterology & Motility published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 205 Neurogastroenterol Motil (2014) 26, 205–214 doi: 10.1111/nmo.12249 Neurogastroenterology & Motility