New Treatment Could Change Dietary Habits for Patients with Short-Bowel Syndrome

A new drug could offer significant relief for patients with short-bowel syndrome intestinal failure who are reliant on intravenous nutrition.

For patients suffering from this rare diagnosis, they may experience massive bowel loss which prevents them from properly absorbing nutrients, vitamins and even water from digestive food. Because of this, some rely solely on intravenous feeding to deliver daily nutrients.

"Short-bowel syndrome is a devastating condition, and without parenteral nutrition patients would not survive. However, this treatment method is labor-intensive, expensive and carries complications, including chronic infection, blood clots and liver failure," said Stephen J. D. O'Keefe, MD, MSc, FRCP, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, PA, and lead study author, via a press release. "Teduglutide, a new form of therapy, offers potential to significantly reduce intravenous nutrition dependency and improve the quality of life for patients."

Researchers hope that a daily injection of this new medication could help improve intestinal absorption of fluids and nutrients, while reducing frequency and volume of parental nutrition.

According to study authors, they conducted a year-long trial to examine the safety, tolerability and clinical efficacy of the drug on patients with short-bowel syndrome. After 52 weeks, 68 percent of patients on just a low dose of teduglutide experienced lessened parental nutrition dependency and a greater than 20 percent reduction in IV-fluid requirements.

The results also showed that several patients were even able to switch from parental nutrition to normal eating.

The authors acknowledge that these findings instill hope regarding new treatments for short-bowel syndrome patients that could significantly improve their quality of life.

More information regarding the study can be found in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.