Investigation of whole gut transit with domestic wireless motility capsule in healthy subjects

Objective To assess gastrointestinal pH, pressure, temperature, regional and whole gut transit times with the domestic wireless motility capsule in healthy subjects. Methods Eight healthy asymptomatic subjects who were recruited from June to August 2014 in our hospital swallowed the domestic wireless motility capsule (WMC) after a standardized breakfast (1 083 kJ). A data receiver was put on each subject's abdomen and the synchronous transmission of pH, pressure and temperature data were recorded. Then gastric emptying time (GET), small bowel transit time (SBTT), colon transit time (CTT) and whole gut transit time (WGTT) were calculated according to the recorded data. Results Gastric, small bowel, and colon pH values ranged from 0.7 to 2.9 (2.0±0.82), 7.0 to 8.6 (8.0±0.56), 5.9 to 7.6 (6.8±0.61), respectively. Gastric, small bowel and colon peak contraction amplitude ranged from 18.0 to 31.8 (24.8±4.84) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), 33.7 to 60.5 (42.4±10.75) mmHg, 42.6 to 74.2 (55.6±10.44) mmHg, respectively. Gastric, small bowel and colon temperature ranged from 36.5 to 38.1 (37.1±0.59)℃, 36.5 to 37.6 (37.0±0.41)℃, 36.6 to 37.5 (37.1±0.33)℃, respectively. GET ranged from 0.7 to 4.4 2.6 (mean) h, SBTT ranged from 3.4 to 6.3 5.4(mean) h, CTT ranged from 10.5 to 15.9 12.6(mean) h, WGTT ranged from 16.4 to 24.2 20.6(mean) h. Conclusion The WMC is a novel ambulatory technology offering a noninvasive and nonradioactive method to assess gastrointestinal pH, pressure and temperature, allowing for the measurement of whole gut transit times, which should be considered as an effective method by gastroenterologists to evaluate the alimentary motility and functional GI disorders.