Methods of assessment of bowel fu nction in patients with advanced cancer

Abstract

Constipation is said to be a problem for most patients with advanced cancer. There has been little investigation of constipation in this group perhaps partly because of their frailty and a consequent reluctance to impose burdensome investigations on them. Mean transit time (MTT-S) was measured in 17 patients with advanced cancer admitted to a hospice and was used as a standard to evaluate the use of single stool analysis of transit time (SST) and the standardized estimation of stool form as measures of bowel function in this population. Bowel frequency, stool weight and stool water content were used as additional measures of bowel function. Transit time ranged from four to 12 days, the SST method proving accurate for transit times of 96 hours or less. MTT-S correlated more strongly with mean stool form (r=0.83) than with any other measure of bowel function. It is suggested that standardized stool form assessment may give clinically useful information about transit time and be of particular value in assessing bowel function in ill patients.