Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Culbert.
Results from a controlled clinical trial indicate that low doses of polyethylene glycol solutions are more effective and have fewer side-effects than lactulose. Large doses of polyethylene glycol are effective in the treatment of faecal impaction. Resolution of faecal impaction was obtained in all patients, and in 25/30 patients with three administrations in a three-day period.
We reasoned that relief of faecal impaction could be achieved if a bolus of polyethylene glycol/electrolyte solution was delivered to the caecum over a few hours. Thus, 16 patients with faecal impaction (duration of constipation 5-23 days) were treated in an open study with up to three daily treatments of one litre of polyethylene glycol/electrolyte solution daily, taken orally over 4-6 hours. Complete resolution of impaction, strictly defined, was obtained in 13 patients, and significant improvement in the other three. Only one patient was faecally incontinent and the only side-effect was an increase in borborygmi. Polyethylene glycol/electrolyte solution, given as a treatment dose of one litre daily for up to three days, is a highly effective and acceptable oral therapy for faecal impaction.
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