Day-to-day reproducibility of prolonged ambulatory colonic manometry in healthy subjects

Background Although colonic manometry provides useful information regarding colonic physiology, considerable variability has been reported both for regional motility and manometric patterns. Whether colonic manometry is reproducible is not known. Methods Seven healthy volunteers (three men, four women, mean age = 34 years) underwent two studies of 24-h ambulatory colonic manometry, each 2 weeks apart. Manometry was performed by placing a six-sensor solid-state probe, up to the hepatic flexure and anchored to colonic mucosa. Colonic motility was assessed by the number and area-under-curve (AUC) of pressure waves and motility patterns such as high-amplitude propagating contractions (HAPC). Waking and meal-induced gastrocolonic responses were also assessed. Paired t-test was used to examine the reproducibility and intra and interindividual variability. Key Results The number of pressure waves and propagating pressure waves and HAPC, and AUC were similar between the two studies. Diurnal variation, waking and meal-induced gastrocolonic responses were also reproducible. There was some variability in the incidence of individual colonic motor patterns. Conclusions & Inferences Colonic manometry findings were generally reproducible, particularly for the assessment of key physiologic changes, such as meal-induced gastrocolonic, HAPC, and waking responses.