Fynne L, Worsøe J, Gregersen T, Schlageter V, Laurberg S, Krogh K. Gastric and small intestinal dysfunction in spinal cord injury patients. Acta Neurol Scand: DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2011.01508.x. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Background -  Many patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) suffer from constipation, abdominal pain, nausea, or bloating, and colonic transit times are prolonged in most. Gastric and small intestinal dysfunction could contribute to symptoms but remain to be described in detail. Also, it is obscure whether the level of SCI affects gastric and small intestinal function. Aim -  To study orocecal transit time and gastric emptying (GE) in patients with SCI. Methods -  Nineteen patients with SCI (7 ♀, median age 54 years) and 15 healthy volunteers (9 ♀, median age 32 years) were included. All were referred because of neurogenic bowel problems. Eleven patients had low SCI (located at conus medullaris or cauda equina) affecting only the parasympathetic nerves to the left colon and eight had high SCI (above Th6) affecting parasympathetic and sympathetic innervation. Subjects ingested a small magnetic pill that subsequently was tracked by the Motility Tracking System - MTS-1 (Motilis, Lausanne, Switzerland). Results -  Orocecal transit time was longer than normal both in individuals with high lesions (P