A controlled study of faecal distribution in ulcerative colitis and proctitis.

The object of this study was to assess faecal distribution and faecal stasis in patients with ulcerative colitis and healthy control subjects and to relate the findings to the activity and extent of the disease. Each subject ingested 10 radiopaque markers daily for 13 days and attended for a plain abdominal roentgenogram on the 14th day. Patients with active ulcerative proctocolitis retained significantly fewer markers in the whole colon (median values, 11 versus 24 markers) due to a decrease of markers in the left colon (median values, 3 versus 13 markers) compared with the control group (p less than 0.05). Patients with either proctitis or colitis in remission and control subjects retained similar numbers of markers. The results of this study suggest that, as a group, patients with proctocolitis do not have proximal faecal stasis.