Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2017; 23(4): 740-742
Published online Jan 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i4.740
Correcting for non-compliance when determining colonic transit time with radio-opaque markers
Alvin Ibarra, Kaisa Olli, Arthur C Ouwehand
Alvin Ibarra, Kaisa Olli, Arthur C Ouwehand, DuPont Nutrition and Health, 02460 Kantvik, Finland
Author contributions: Ibarra A, Olli K and Ouwehand AC wrote this letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Alvin Ibarra, Kaisa Olli and Arthur C Ouwehand were employees of DuPont during the preparation of the Letter to the Editor and declare no other conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Alvin Ibarra, PhD, DuPont Nutrition and Health, Danisco Sweeteners Oy, Sokeritehtaantie 20, 02460 Kantvik, Finland. alvin.ibarra@dupont.com
Telephone: +358-40-1678509 Fax: +358-40-1678509
Received: October 7, 2016
Peer-review started: October 9, 2016
First decision: October 28, 2016
Revised: November 10, 2016
Accepted: December 8, 2016
Article in press: December 8, 2016
Published online: January 28, 2017
Abstract

The use of radio-opaque markers and abdominal X-ray is the standard method for determining colonic transit time (CTT). However, when there are deviations in the intake of these markers by participants in clinical trials it is desirable to improve observations by introducing corrections, where possible. To date, there is no standard procedure to adjust for such deviations. This report proposes a series of alternatives based on possible scenarios for deviations from the intended intake of radio-opaque markers. The proposed method to correct for missed or delayed consumption of radio-opaque markers can help to increase the accuracy of the CTT measurements in clinical trials.

Keywords: Colonic transit time, Gastroenterology, Gut transit time, Radio-opaque marker, X-ray

Core tip: Ibarra A et al correcting for non-compliance when determining colonic transit time with radio-opaque markers.