Background/aims: Survival of patients with gastrointestinal cancer has improved recently with various multidisciplinary treatments. However, complications associated with the latter also increased, leading to impairment of quality of life and functional disability in patients. Short bowel syndrome, characterized by severe watery diarrhea and electrolyte losses, is one of the major problems caused by gastrointestinal cancer and subsequent treatments. We investigated whether cimetidine, a gastric antisecretory agent, would ameliorate short bowel syndrome in patients after massive small bowel resection.
Methodology: The study design was such that the evaluation of cimetidine effects was an intra-patient comparison. The randomized block method was used for statistical analyses of frequency and amount of daily watery fluid excretion and urine output, electrolyte levels in fluid secretions, as well as blood biochemistry, body weight and performance status.
Results: Cimetidine administered at an early stage after bowel surgery, especially while patients are receiving parenteral nutrition, significantly decreased stool fluid excretion (p=0.0001), urine output (p=0.0010) and electrolyte loss, which was no longer apparent a week after initiation of oral intake.
Conclusions: Cimetidine appears to be beneficial for cancer patients who have had extensive small bowel resection.