[Electric abdominal epidutaneous findings in the pathology of colonic motility].

Abdominal epicutaneous electrical activity has been studied in a group of 58 gastroenterically normal subjects or suffering form colon motor pathology. An evident similarity of behaviour was observed in the various groups: 17 out of 18 subjects with irritable colon and 6 out of 7 with subocclusion of the colon presented waves with characteristic amplitude and frequency. This type of electrical activity was present in only 1 normal subject out of 20; 11 patients with paralysis of the colon did not present waves of note; three patients with ulcerative colitis showed behaviour similar to the majority of the normal subjects. The technique illustrated would appear adequate for the study of colon pathology with motility alterations.