Polyethylene glycol versus vegetable oil based bisacodyl suppositories to initiate side-lying bowel care: a clinical trial in persons with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Introduction: Neurogenic bowel dysfunction resulting from spinal cord injury (SCI) frequently requires bowel care (BC) with stimulant suppositories for initiation of effective defecation. The excessive time required for BC and bowel complications have limited quality of life after SCI.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that: the time required for bowel care with bisacodyl suppositories can be reduced by substituting a polyethylene glycol base (PGB) for the traditional hydrogenated vegetable oil base (HVB) in the suppository.

Setting: Inpatient SCI medicine unit.

Subjects: Fourteen persons with SCI with chronic stable paralysis from upper motor neuron SCI for greater than one year with a stable HVB bisacodyl suppository initiated BC.

Design: Crossover Controlled.

Method: Subjects received HVB bisacodyl suppositories for six sequential BC sessions and then were crossed over to PGB bisacodyl suppositories for six more BCs.

Outcome measures: BC event times were utilized to derive BC intervals: suppository insertion to first flatus= Time to flatus, first flatus until the beginning of stool flow = Flatus to stool flow, begin stool flow until end stool flow = Defecation period, end stool flow until end of clean up = Clean up, and suppository insertion until end clean up = Total bowel care time.

Results: The data included two groups of BC sessions: HVB (n = 84) and PGB (n = 81). Mean times in minutes and P values from t tests for paired samples yielded: Time to flatus: (HVB 31, PGB 12.8 P < 0.002), Defecation period: (HVB 58, PGB 32, P < 0.0005), Clean up: (HVB 1.9, PGB 3.2 P = 0.165), Total bowel care time: (HVB 102, PGB 51.2 P < 0.0005).

Conclusion: This analysis suggests that PGB based bisacodyl suppositories may stimulate reflex defecation sooner and shorten the Total BC Time as compared with HVB bisacodyl suppositories.