Butyric acid in inhibition of diarrhoea in course of chemotherapy — case report

Abstract

Diarrhea is a crucial problem in cancer patients treated with , chemotherapy. The disease can threat patient’s life, lead to the dehydratation and the electrocytes disbalance. Patients need a complex, diagnostic and therapeutic treatment. Presented work describes anaplastic lymphoma case in which after autologous stem cell transplantation, a severe and difficult to control diarrhea was observed. After standard treatment failure, it was decided to introduce butyric acid to the patient’s diet. Butyric acid is naturally produced in the colon, and instantly taken up by epithelial cells as energy source. Butyric acid accelerates the epithelial cells regeneration and water absorption in intestine. The patient received microencapsulated butyric acid which provided slow release of active substance in the lower part of the gastrointestinal tract. Few days after the onset of butyric acid supplementation considerable improvement was observed, such as the decreased number of watery stools. Despite the complex pharmacotherapy and nutritional intervention, it seems that in the presented case the role of butyric acid did play an important role in the diarrhea inhibition.

Onkol. Prak. Klin. 2011; 7, 1: 40–42