Gastrointestinal transit of small tablets in patients with ulcerative colitis

Abstract The gastrointestinal transit of 5 small tablets has been monitored in each of 6 patients with ulcerative colitis. The mean gastric emptying time of 1.6 h and small intestinal transit time of 3.4 h were the same as found previously for healthy subjects. The tablets were retained within the proximal colon for at least 6 hours. Only one patient excreted any of the tablets within 24 h. These findings indicate that small tablets could be used as controlled-release drug delivery systems in ulcerative colitis.