A descriptive study of high resolution total colonic intracavitary manometry and colonic transit test in the diagnostic efficacy of functional constipation in Chinese patients

BACKGROUND: This study was to observe the diagnostic efficacy of high resolution total colonic intracavitary manometry (HRCM) vs colonic transit test (CTT) in the assessment of functional constipation (FC) in Chinese patients. METHODS: Seventy-nine cases of patients with severe FC who were admitted and received colon resection between July 2016 and July 2019 at the Tianjin Union Medical Center were retrospectively reviewed. Before operation, all patients received CTT at outpatient service, followed by HRCM at ward. The resected tissues were subject to histological observation, which was used to determine the diagnostic efficacy of HRCM vs CTT. RESULTS: The accuracy of CTT for the FC diagnosis was 69.6% (55/79), and the false negative ratio was 30.4%. The accuracy of HRCM for the FC diagnosis was 81.0% (64/79), and the false negative ratio was 19.0% (15/79). Twelve patients showed normal characteristics after CTT but abnormal after HRCM. In contrast, only 4 showed normal after HRCM but abnormal after CTT. In addition, among the 79 patients 12 were detected normal by both CTT and HRCM. CONCLUSION: HRCM can be more suitable to assess FC compared with CTT, while CTT is still indispensable for HRCM to diagnose FC.