INTUBATION STUDIES OF THE HUMAN SMALL INTESTINE. XXI. A METHOD FOR MEASURING INTRA-LUMINAL PRESSURES AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 1

Abstract

An instrument for recording the intra luminal pressures simultaneously at multiple selected points in the human digestive tract, without obstructing the lumen, stimulating the gut locally, necessitating a fasting state, or inordinately disturbing a sick patient, was designed. Basic pressures of 8-10 cm. of water are present in the human small intestine. Phasic pressures rising to 30 or 40 or occasionally even to 50 cm. of water occur spontaneously. Placing the gut under stress, by creating an obstruction or by giving morphine, changes the extremes of intra luminal pressure by only a few cm. of water but alters the pressure pattern. The coincident gastric and duodenal pressures attendant on gastric emptying were observed.