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©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. Mar 5, 2026; 17(1): 111615
Published online Mar 5, 2026. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v17.i1.111615
Published online Mar 5, 2026. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v17.i1.111615
Unlocking the colon clock: Bridging the gap in colonic transit time studies for optimal management of chronic constipation
Shivam Kalra, Internal Medicine, Trident Medical Center, Charleston, SC 29405, United States
Manjeet Kumar Goyal, Department of Gastroenterology and Human Nutrition Unit, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India
Kartikay Goyal, Medicine, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh 160030, Chandīgarh, India
Rajdeep Singh, Department of Gastroenterology, J P Medical Centre, Chandigarh 160019, Chandīgarh, India
Ashita Rukmini Vuthaluru, Department of Anesthesiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, Delhi, India
Omesh Goyal, Department of Gastroenterology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana 141001, Punjab, India
Co-first authors: Shivam Kalra and Manjeet Kumar Goyal.
Author contributions: Kalra S and Goyal MK provided equal contributions to the manuscript, meriting co-first authorship. Kalra S, Goyal MK, Goyal K, Singh R, Vuthaluru AR, and Goyal O contributed to writing the original draft and reviewed and edited all subsequent versions of the manuscript; Kalra S, Goyal MK, Goyal K, Singh R, and Vuthaluru AR performed the literature search; Kalra S, Goyal MK, and Goyal O performed the conceptualization and supervision of the study, as well as validation and visualization of the data. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Omesh Goyal, MD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Tagore Nagar, Ludhiana 141001, Punjab, India. dromeshgoyal@gmail.com
Received: July 4, 2025
Revised: August 25, 2025
Accepted: January 7, 2026
Published online: March 5, 2026
Processing time: 222 Days and 7.9 Hours
Revised: August 25, 2025
Accepted: January 7, 2026
Published online: March 5, 2026
Processing time: 222 Days and 7.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Colonic transit time (CTT) assessment using radiopaque markers (ROM) is a cost-effective, underutilized tool for subtyping functional constipation and guiding therapy. This review highlighted the need for standardized ROM CTT protocols tailored to regional transit characteristics, especially in Asian populations. It underscored the importance of multicentric normative data, clinician awareness, and technological innovations like artificial intelligence-assisted marker analysis to elevate the ROM CTT study from a research tool to a routine diagnostic modality.