REVIEW ARTICLES   

Panminerva Medica 2000 March;42(1):55-9

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Role of sucralfate in gastrointestinal diseases

Candelli M., Carloni E., Armuzzi A., Cammarota G., Ojetti V., Pignataro G., Santoliquido A., Pola R., Pola E., Gasbarrini G., Gasbarrini A.

From the Internal Medicine Department, Gemelli Hospital Catholic University of Rome, Italy

Sucralfate is a cytop­ro­tec­tive ­drug wide­ly ­used in clin­i­cal prac­tice to pre­vent or ­treat sev­er­al gas­troin­tes­ti­nal dis­eas­es ­such as gas­tro-esoph­a­geal ­reflux, gas­tritis, pep­tic ­ulcer, ­stress ­ulcer and dys­pep­sia. Sucralfate is a ­safe and ­well tol­er­at­ed ­drug, as dem­on­strat­ed by the ­quite com­plete ­lack of ­side ­effects and it is, for ­this rea­son, one of the ­most impor­tant ther­a­peu­tic choic­es in the man­age­ment of ­acid relat­ed dis­eas­es dur­ing preg­nan­cy. Moreover, sucral­fate has recent­ly ­been ­shown to be use­ful in non-­acid relat­ed gastroin­tes­ti­nal dis­ease as ­well. In ­fact, sucral­fate has ­also ­been admin­is­tered top­i­cal­ly in ­patients ­with radi­a­tion-­induced muco­sal proc­to-sig­moid­itis or ulcer­a­tive col­itis ­with sur­pris­ing ­results. The ­drug is actu­al­ly ­able to ­form a phys­i­cal bar­ri­er ­between epi­the­li­um and dam­ag­ing ­agents (­bile ­salts, ­drugs, ref­lux­ate…). Moreover, sucral­fate increas­es the ­local lev­els of fibro­blast ­growth fac­tors and induc­es a ­rise in the muco­sal con­cen­tra­tion of pros­ta­glan­dins ­which are con­sid­ered impor­tant fac­tors in muco­sal heal­ing. The aim of ­this ­paper is to ­describe the cur­rent and prob­ably forth­com­ing ­uses of sucralfate in the ­field of gas­troin­tes­ti­nal dis­or­ders. Moreover, we inves­ti­gate the ­role of sucral­fate as a reli­able ­means to pre­vent the occur­rence of ­reflux-­like symp­toms ­after Helicobacter pylo­ri erad­i­ca­tion and in the man­age­ment of Helicobacter pylo­ri neg­a­tive ­patients affect­ed by non-­ulcer dys­pep­sia.