Motility of the sigmoid colon and rectum:

Summary The motility of the sigmoid colon and rectum was studied by electromanometry in normal subjects and in patients with chagasic megacolon before and 2.5 to 3.5 years after treatment by abdomino-endoanal rectosigmoidectomy. The study was with the subjects at rest and after injection of methacholine chloride. Records of normal subjects showed minimal activity with a preponderance of simple waves of low amplitude and short duration, the sigmoid and rectum exhibiting independent activities during the major period of observation. Patients with chagasic megacolon, both before and after surgical treatment, had hyperactivity, with more numerous waves of higher amplitude and longer duration. They also had greater proportions of complex waves, and activities of the two segments of colon studied were synchronous. In normal subjects, methacholine chloride did not alter the motor activity of the sigmoid and rectum. In patients with chagasic megacolon, both before and after operation, methacholine chloride increased motor activity in both segments. All abnormalities in colonic motor activity of patients with chagasic megacolon were considered to result from the lesions of the ganglion cells of the intestinal myenteric plexus always present in this disease.