[Colonic myoelectric activity during fasting and postprandial periods in healthy subjects and colonopathic patients].

The purpose of this prospective study was to assess colonic myoelectric activity during fasting and after a test meal in patients with the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and in control subjects. Colonic electromyographic activity was recorded using an intraluminal probe in 14 patients and in 8 controls. Only rapid electrical activity [i. e. Short Spike Bursts (SSB) and Long Spike Bursts (LSB)] was taken into account. In control subjects the test meal provoked a significant increase in LSB from 46.7 +/- 16.3 to 88.6 +/- 20.3 (p less than 0.001) but not in SSB. In IBS patients rapid myoelectrical activity was not significantly modified by food intake (47.2 +/- 10.3 vs. 62.2 +/- 10.9; NS). The increase of postprandial LSB activity was found to be significantly higher in controls than in IBS patients (41.8 +/- 7.6 vs. 12.9 +/- 8.4; p less than 0.05). These results showed that colonic myoelectrical activity in IBS patients is different from that of controls; such a difference could be useful in classifying IBS patients.