Imaging approach to measuring small bowel motility.

THE ARTICLE BY CAROLINA MALAGELADA and colleagues in Barcelona entitled “Classification of functional bowel disorders by objective physiological criteria based on endoluminal image analysis” represents an important advance in the measurement of small intestinal motor functions (5). This novel approach involves novel imaging, combinations of physics and mathematics, as well as gastrointestinal physiologists and clinicians. The rationale for developing the method in the evaluation of small intestinal motor function is well articulated in the authors’ discussion: “clinical diagnostic criteria appear to have limited value in determining the underlying mechanism of the symptoms in the functional gastrointestinal disorders and, conversely, current technologies often fail to detect abnormalities in gut physiology in these patients” (5).