Sequential therapy with antibiotic and probiotic effectively relieve the symptoms of patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Objective To evaluate the effects of antibiotic-probiotics sequential therapy on patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome(IBS-D). MethodsEighty-three patients with definite IBS-D were divided into 3 groups. The patients in group A received Levofloxacin,pinaverium bromide and complex glutamine capsule(GLU) for the first week,and then pinaverium bromide,GLU and Bifid Triple Viable Capsule(BTVC) for remaining 7 weeks.Patients in group B received pinaverium bromide,GLU and BTVC for 8 weeks,while patients in group C only pinaverium bromide and GLU for 8 weeks.The scores of gastrointestinal symptoms,Bristol score,and stool frequency were registered respectively before and after treatment. ResultsAfter 8-week treatment,the symptom scores significantly decreased in patients(P0.05).At the end of 10th week and 12th week,the scores remained respectively lower in group A and group B,while not in group C(P=0.032).The duration of abdominal pain was shorter(P=0.001), and the pain frequency was lower(P=0.001) post-treatment than prior treatment in all three groups,while the pain score remained lower only in group A at the end of the 12th week. After the treatment,the scores of stool frequency(SSF) showed a significant decrease in all three groups(P0.01).At the end of the 8th week,the SSFs were significantly lower in group A and group B than those in group C(P0.05),and at the end of the 12th week,SSF remained lower in group A,while not in group A and group C(P=0.822).Moreover,the proportion of mucous stool post-treatment was lower in group A and group B(P0.01),but not in group C(P0.05). ConclusionSequential therapy with levofloxacin and Bifid Triple Viable Capsule effectively relieves abdominal pain,lower the frequency of bowel movement and reduces the mucous in stool in patients with IBS-D,so this may be helpful for the patients with IBS-D.