Premium
Use of Probiotics in the Management of Chemotherapy‐Induced Diarrhea: A Case Study
Author(s) -
ElAtti Samia Abd,
Wasicek Kelley,
Mark Scott,
Hegazi Refaat
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.935
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1941-2444
pISSN - 0148-6071
DOI - 10.1177/0148607109332004
Subject(s) - diarrhea , chemotherapy , medicine , intensive care medicine
Gastrointestinal disturbances (particularly diarrhea) are often induced in response to cancer treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation. Oral chemotherapeutic agents can induce diarrhea by damaging the intestinal lining. Two common oral drugs used in cancer treatment that are known to have gastrointestinal side effects are capecitabine and lapatinib. In this brief communication, the authors discuss a case study of a stage IV breast cancer patient whose chemotherapy‐induced diarrhea was treated successfully with a multispecies combination of probiotics. This is a unique study in which grade 3 chemotherapy‐induced diarrhea (characterized by 7–9 stools per day and associ ated with incontinence and abdominal cramping) was treated with only a multispecies combination of probiotics. Probiotics have been used to treat diarrhea in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, pouchitis, and Crohn's disease. More recently, probiotics have been used to treat chemotherapy‐induced diarrhea in colon cancer patients. This case study demonstrates that the probiotics can also be used to treat severe cases of chemotherapy‐induced diarrhea in breast cancer patients. The use of different probiotics in gastrointestinal diseases is an increasingly important area of study, and more research into this area is needed. This study demonstrates that probiotics should be considered for advanced breast cancer patients with chemotherapy‐induced diarrhea.