PHARMACEUTICALS AND GASTROINTESTINAL MOTI LITY MEASUREMENT

Any determination of gastrointestinal motility is based on two assumpt ions: (1) That the patient is examined in <<physiological>> conditions and (2) that the values measured truly reflect the parameter the inve stigator wishes to examine. A large array of very different drugs shar es the ability to modify the digestive motility (i.e. gastrokinetics) or to alter the content of the digestive tube in such a way that it af fects the outcome of some measurements (i.e. acid suppression leads to false results in ph-metry dependent methods). Therefore, it seems adv isable to ask the patient whether he is taking any drug - including no n prescription medications - and check if this substance or type of su bstances could affect the outcome of the motility measurement envision ed. In this paper, the authors present a list of the principal drugs k nown to affect different motility-measurement methods. The real or app arent stimulating or inhibitory effects of drugs on four main segments of the digestive tube (esophagus, stomach, small intestines and colon ) are indicated in an alphabetically ordered table. In a short review, the drugs are broadly classified according to their mechanism and sit e of action. Besides a number of drugs used in practice because of the ir action on the enteric nervous system, there is a large spectrum of compounds affecting motility, whose main therapeutic application lies outside the digestive tract, such as: psychotropic drugs, antiparkinso nian drugs, bronchodilators, antitussives, antihistamines, antimigrain e drugs, antihypertensive agents, etc. This second category is more li kely to escape unnoticed as a potential source of false results in the measurement of digestive motility.