A number of suggested alternatives and emendations to the 7-day SeHCAT
retention test have been compared with whole-body counting. It was fo
und that correction for colonic retention is an unnecessary complicati
on in patients with diarrhoea and that imaging either of the gall-blad
der or of the distribution of activity in the intestines at 24 h does
not add useful information to the standard 7-day retention measurement
. Neither could the patterns of colonic uptake identified in patients
following extensive ideal resection or radiotherapy be reproduced in p
atients with idiopathic diarrhoea. Sadly it must be concluded that nei
ther of these shortened techniques is of clinical value in patients wi
th intact small bowel and that there remains no reliable alternative t
o the 7-day Se HCAT retention test. The simplest technique the best.