# Found on Reuters News



## Guest (Sep 27, 2001)

I foud this on Yahoo News today. It is about a drug that shows promise for overcoming the constipation caused by opioid pain killers after surgery. Maybe it could be adapted for IBS users who take opioid or synthetic opioid pain killers? (I'm not a doctor)quoterug May Speed Bowel Recovery After SurgeryNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An experimental drug shows promise in helping patients more quickly regain normal bowel function after major abdominal surgery, according to a report published Thursday.The drug appears to overcome a common dilemma after such surgery, in which the opioids given to relieve patients' pain also interfere with normal gastrointestinal function. The new medication, researchers report, appears to selectively block the painkillers' ill effects on the gut without diminishing their power against pain.In a study of 78 patients who had either a hysterectomy or surgery to remove colon tissue, investigators found that the drug--known as ADL 8-2698--sped recovery of normal bowel function and got patients out of the hospital sooner. Nausea and vomiting were also less common in patients who received the drug, according to the report in the September 27th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (news - web sites).Virtually every patient who has major abdominal surgery suffers temporary bowel problems, stomach discomfort, nausea and vomiting afterward--a condition known as ileus. Opioid drugs that ease postoperative pain contribute to the problem because they also act on natural opioid receptors in theintestines, impairing normal activity in the gastrointestinal tract.So researchers led by Dr. Andrea Kurz of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, looked at whether they could get around this problem with the experimental drug, which had been shown in dental-surgery patients to block the effect of opioids in the intestines without lessening their painkilling effects.One group of patients received a low dose of ADL 8-2698 just before surgery and a daily dose afterward. Another group took a slightly higher dose, while the third group took an inactive placebo for comparison. All patients took opioids for pain relief after surgery.The researchers found that patients on the higher drug dose regained bowel function and left the hospital significantly faster than those on placebo. Half of the patients on the higher-dose drug were able to leave the hospital within 68 hours. In contrast, half of the placebo patients had left the hospitalwithin 91 hours of surgery. The benefits were lesser for patients on the lower dose of the drug."This is a novel approach to the reduction of ileus after major abdominal surgery," Dr. Richard A. Steinbrook of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, writes in an accompanying editorial.It remains unclear whether the drug will help patients having other types of abdominal surgery, Steinbrook notes. However, the roughly one-day-shorter hospital stay linked to the medication ``would have substantial clinical and financial benefits,'' he adds.``The administration of a pill is a simple, appealing approach to the treatment of postoperative ileus,'' Steinbrook concludes.Researchers from the Exton, Pennsylvania-based Adolor, maker of ADL 8-2698, were co-authors on the study.SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine 2001;345:935-940, 988-989.


----------



## Guest (Sep 27, 2001)

interesting. there are several possibilities being developed. but note the article is somehwat misleading in that the drug speeds up recovery - it doesn't speed up bowel fuctioning necessarily.tom


----------



## wanderingstar (Dec 1, 1999)

thanks for the info musem. I take opiod painkillers most days (Co-Proxamol for 8 years and Tramadol) and frankly am glad of the constipation they cause.







But I'm sure there are many others who aren't. ------------------susanIBS D/C type & M.E/CFS


----------



## Jeffrey Roberts (Apr 15, 1987)

Moved to the *News* forum.Use the *Hop to* below to jump to it.


----------

