[Effects of medicinal fiber on colonic transit in patients with irritable colon syndrome]

Abstract

Twenty patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, 14 patients with pain and constipation and 6 patients with pain and diarrhoea, were studied in order to: a) Evaluate the symptomatic response to a Plantago Ovatae fiber medicine. b) Study with radio-opaque markers the colonic transit modifications that could explain the therapeutic responses. There were observed the following results: 1) Pain decreased or disappeared in 80% of the patients. 2) Constipation decreased or disappeared in 78.6% of the patients. 3) Diarrhoea decreased or disappeared in 5 of the 6 patients that were studied. 4) There was a significative increase of the feces weight without changes of the dry residue. 5) Taking all the patients as a whole the number of the retained radio-opaque markers was the same before and after the active treatment. If we evaluate the patients with constipation and the patients with diarrhoea separately the first group shows an acceleration of the colonic transit (fewer retained markers) and the second group shows a decrease of the colonic transit (more retained markers). We draw the conclusion that the Plantago Ovatae fiber regulates or moderates the colon motility and enables a physiological balance of the colonic transit.