Small Bowel Transit Time in Clostridium Difficile Colitis

Patients in the intensive care unit are eligible to participate in the study A pregnancy test will be checked if applicable. Patients that are enrolled and consented in the study will be given 300ml of water containing 5 millicurie (mCi) of technetium-99m (Tc-99m) diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (DTPA). This nuclear tracer/water mix will either be drank orally or placed down a nasogastric tube to begin the study. The patient will have to have nothing else to eat or drink for the duration of the study. The patients will have a nuclear scan performed at 2, 4, and 6 hours after ingestion of the nuclear tracer. The images at 2 and 6 hours will be taken in the nuclear medicine department while the 4 hour image will be taken in the ICU. The 2 and 6 hour studies must be conducted in the nuclear medicine department to allow for special equipment to be used. This equipment is necessary to allow for computer calculation to be made. The 4 hour scan is to check for progress of the tracer and does not require calculations/measurements. Therefore, a mobile scanner can be utilized. The image will be taken for 60 seconds. The images obtained will then be interpreted by the nuclear medicine department to determine the transit time of the tracer from the stomach to the terminal ileum and cecum. The data obtained from the subjects will be compare to previously obtained data for normal subjects. A normal study has been defined as 40% of the tracer reaching the terminal ileum by 6 hours. Any time longer than 6 hours is deemed an abnormal study with delayed small bowel transit time.