Effect of quetiapine-XR on irritable bowel syndrome.

摘要

I have read with great interest the paper by Dr. Martin-Bianco and colleagues reporting the case of a patient with refractory irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and depressive disorder whose digestive symptoms improved after add-on therapy of extended-release formulation of quetiapine fumarate (quetiapine-XR) to existing medications (Martin-Bianco et al., in press). As the intricate pathologic mechanism of IBS, the pharmacological treatment options are also complicated and very difficult resulting in non-response or partial response to current biological agents in approximately a quarter of such patient population (Drossman et al., 2002). I hereby would like to comment on further potential mechanism of quetiapine action for treatment of IBS. A number of controlled clinical trials of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have failed to separate from placebo effect in the treatment of IBS (Pae et al., 2007), although some reported potential benefit of SSRIs for treating IBS (Tabas et al., 2004).