Transit through the distal quarter of the oesophagus in young children.

The transit time of 800 individual boluses through the distal quarter of the oesophagus was measured in 33 scintigraphic oesophageal studies which had been selected as typifying normal swallows in children. The results show that, in children, transit time through the distal quarter including the lower oesophageal sphincter is normally less than 2 seconds and that transit tends to be slower during the first 4 seconds after onset of swallowing.