A number of suggested alternatives and emendations to the 7-day SeHCAT retention test have been compared with whole-body counting. It was found that correction for colonic retention is an unnecessary complication in patients with diarrhoea and that imaging either of the gall-bladder or of the distribution of activity in the intestines at 24 h does not add useful information to the standard 7-day retention measurement. Neither could the patterns of colonic uptake identified in patients following extensive ideal resection or radiotherapy be reproduced in patients with idiopathic diarrhoea. Sadly it must be concluded that neither of these shortened techniques is of clinical value in patients with intact small bowel and that there remains no reliable alternative to the 7-day Se HCAT retention test. The simplest technique the best.