Investigation of colonic motility

The healthy colon absorbs nutrients, facilitates fermentation, stores feces and evacuates them under conscious control. In humans, the investigation of colonic transit and motility has developed substantially over the last 2 decades to allow assessment of the differing motor patterns required to complete the multiple physiological tasks. Recent advances in technologies have revolutionized our understanding of colonic motility, providing new insights on what we knew. Here, we discuss various novel techniques for assessing colonic transit and motility, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.