If this is not your name, click here.
| | If this is not your name, click here. | | |
| | Contact Us | Order Now | Journals | Bookstore | Register a colleague | | |
| |  DG DISPATCH - WCPGHN: Hydrotalcite Plus Cisapride Improve Symptoms In Babies With Reflux Disease By Maria Bishop Special to DG News
BOSTON, MA -- August 10, 2000 -- Hydrotalcite plus cisapride shows significant clinical improvement of symptoms in infants with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), stated Colombian researchers at the first World Congress of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition in Boston, MA. "The search for new treatments to reduce the mortality rate of GERD is a priority in Colombia," stated Carlos Velasco, MD, pediatric gastroenterologist, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia. Since hydrotalcite (magnesium aluminum hydroxide carbonate hydrate) improves symptoms in 81 percent of adults with GERD, Dr. Velasco and colleagues were interested in determining its clinical and histological efficacy in infants with GERD. A comparative, longitudinal and prospective study in 69 infants divided the babies (mean age 5.3 +/- 3.3 months) into three groups for clinical esophageal pH monitoring. Treatment consisted of oral drugs for eight weeks. Group 1 received hydrotalcite (1 g/1.73 m2 of corporal surface, every six hours) plus cisapride (0.2 mg/kg every eight hours). Group II received hydrotalcite alone. Group III received ranitidine (2 mg/kg every 12 hours) plus the cisapride. Arterial gases and seric magnesium were measured at both the beginning and end of the study, and revealed no significant differences. Clinical and histological assessment of the esophagus was performed on week 8. Results showed clinical improvement in 94 percent of group I patients, 47 percent of group II and 35 percent of group III. Histological improvement was observed in 50 percent of patients in groups I and II, and in 25 percent of those in group III. No adverse effects were noted during the trial. The combination of hydrotalcite plus cisapride for eight weeks was shown to be safe in this trial and proved that it improves clinical symptoms in infants with GERD -- except for odynophagia, which may require a longer treatment to show histological improvement (compared with ranitidine plus cisapride or hydrotalcite alone), the researchers said.
|
