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Slow colon transit time

Case contributed by Bahman Rasuli
Diagnosis certain

Presentation

Chronic constipation.

Patient Data

Age: 45 years
Gender: Female
x-ray

A capsule containing 10 radio-opaque markers is swallowed and an abdominal x-ray is taken 60 minutes later. After one day, The markers are seen distributed within the right abdominal cavity, likely to be within the distal cecum and ascending colon.

At the end of the fifth day, more than 20% of the original markers are seen within the pelvic large bowel loops related to slow colon transit time.

Case Discussion

Normal colonic transit time is 20-56 hours, and most adults will clear all the markers in 4-5 days.

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