Magic - Magnetic resonance imaging in paediatric constipation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A feasibility study to measure gut transit in paediatric constipation using novel mini-capsules and magnetic resonance imaging
IRAS ID
201354
Contact name
Luca Marciani
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University Hospitals
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
One in ten children worldwide has constipation and it becomes chronic in 30% of these children, affecting their and their families’ well-being. Managing these children is difficult, partly because they do not respond to laxatives and partly because their bowel problem cannot be defined. If the doctors could send the children for a quick test that indicates the time that food takes to travel through the gut (the “gut transit time”), they could use this information to help choose the best therapy, for example to decide if a patient needs surgery. The test could also be used to follow up the effects of different treatments. Gut transit time is often not tested due to the unsuitable radiation dose involved in the current methods such as X-ray. Doctors’ decisions have to rely mostly on symptoms, leading to repeated appointments, frustration and a waste of NHS money.
We invented a new method to measure gut transit time using mini-capsules, the size of small pine nuts. They are swallowed but do not dissolve and their journey through the gut is imaged using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). From the images doctors can determine the gut transit time. MRI is harmless and can be used repeatedly to follow up the response to treatment.
We now want to test these new mini-capsules to determine their suitability for paediatric use. Areas of interest are ease of imaging in the gut using MRI and whether they are small enough such that their emptying from the stomach and transit through the gut are similar to food. We want to test them in children with constipation, to measure gut transit time before and after they receive their usual treatment from their doctors. This will tell us if the mini-capsules can detect changes in treatment and will make them clinically useful.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/WM/0049
Date of REC Opinion
29 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion