Gastroenterologia

Antibiotic Therapy for the Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common conditions seen in clinical practice. The number of effective pharmacologic agents for IBS is limited, and therapeutic innovation is hampered by a lack of complete understanding of the pathophysiology of the syndrome, which is probably heterogeneous. Pimentel et al. report the results of two identically designed, large, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (TARGET 1 and TARGET 2) of rifaximin, a poorly absorbed antibiotic, in patients with IBS without constipation. Results confirm that, as a group, patients who have IBS without constipation have a significantly better response to rifaximin than to placebo.
Approfondisci

 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1011211...

New England Journal of Medicine