Motility of the pelvic colon

EDITORIAL SYNOPSIS This paper defines a syndrome of abdominal pain associated with colonic hypermotility after meals. These are patients with 'x-ray negative dyspepsias', with discomfort, flatulence, and sometimes quite severe pain, particularly after food, in whom can be shown markedly overactive motility of the colon; these patients also develop exceptionally high pressures in the sigmoid colon. The movement of faeces through the colon is paradoxically slowed down by this abnormal colonic smooth muscle reaction. These patients constitute a subdivision of the clinical group often referred to as suffering from spastic colon.