Source: Transplantation  |  Posted 9 years ago

Eradicating bacterial overgrowth in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (SIBO) appears to result in some normalisation of motility, researchers in the United States say.

Patients with IBS with SIBO still present were found to have less frequent phase III small intestinal motility on antroduodenal manometry than IBS patients with eradicated overgrowth.

Investigators from Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, California, compared 68 consecutive IBS patients with SIBO and 30 controls in a case-control study designed to investigate the role of small intestinal motility. Patients with SIBO were identified by lactulose breath test.

Four-hour fasting recordings were obtained after fluoroscopic placement of an eight-channel, water-perfused manometry catheter. Using the results, the researchers compared the number and duration of phase III events in IBS/SIBO patients and controls.

IBS patients who had had breath tests within five days of manometry were also compared to see whether there was a relationship between the motility abnormalities observed and SIBO status.

Number and duration of phase III events were lower in the IBS/SIBO patients than in controls. Patients with SIBO present at manometry had less frequent phase III events.