Valenta: Complex Struggle against Intestinal Disorders

For today, intestine malfunction is one of the most urgent problems in the field of gastroenterology. Symptoms of stool retention are registered in 12-19%¹ of adult population in such countries as the USA, the Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Brazil. This problem gets aggravated with the age: this dysfunction is more frequent in people over 60 – in 36% of cases². Intestinal functioning is considered normal, if evacuation occurs once a day. However, the norm is individual for every person.

In Russia, prevalence of such a dysfunction as stool retention is 20%¹, and this parameter increases with the age of patients. Among patients with gastrointestinal tract (GT) diseases, frequency of constipation reaches 70%. However, these statistics consider only people who have addressed for medical aid, which is only 10% of people suffering from those problems³. Because of tardy visit to the doctor, the number of chronic and poorly manageable forms of the disease is continuously growing. Chronic constipations worsen the patients’ quality of life, which is comparable with the quality of life of people suffering from diabetes, arterial hypertension or depression¹.

Stool retention is often caused by inappropriate diet (low content of indigestible cellulose, use of thermally processed food, disruption of meals schedule), and taking medicines (energizers, Са++ channels blockers, anticholinergic medicines, iron compounds, simultaneous taking of lots of medicines, etc.). Besides, basic causes¹ of stool retention can be defined as following: first, neurologic diseases, such as autonomous neuropathy, Parkinson’s disease, tumor of spinal cord, serious malfunctions of brain blood circulation, multiple sclerosis, etc.; second, endocrine diseases, such as diabetes, hypothyroidism, disturbances of electrolytic metabolism in case of adrenal gland dysfunction, etc. third, mental disorders, such as emotional distress, somatoform dysfunction of vegetative nervous system, anorexia, etc.; fourth, systemic diseases of connective tissue, such as dermatomyositis and systemic scleroderma.

In patients with intestinal constipations, the statistics of bifidus bacteria and lactobacilli⁴ were significantly decreased.

Development of functional constipations is closely connected with dysfunction of intestinal motility. Microflora of large intestine makes a significant contribution to intestinal regulation promoting the increase of volume of intestinal contents and production of various metabolites, primarily, of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), which structure and quantity depend on specificities of nutrition. Therefore, the therapeutic regimen for stool retention should combine medicines with a complex mechanism of action to normalize both the intestinal motility, and the contents and functions of intestinal microflora⁴.

In order to make the population aware about the problem of stool retention, its principal causes and symptoms in children, adults and elder people, Valenta Pharm has launched the site www.eksportal.ru. On the site you can also find information about complex solutions of the problem of stool retention and its consequences.

• ¹Medical advices dealing with diagnostics and treatment of adult patients with chronic constipations. Russian Gastroenterology Association, 2013.
• ²Wald A, Scarpignato C., Mueller-Lissner S, Kamm M. A., Hinkel U., Helfrich I., Schuijt C., Mandel K.G. A multinational survey of prevalence and patterns of laxative use among adults with self-defined constipation. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2008 Oct. 1; 28 (7): 917-30.
• ³Information about a session of the expert council on the problem of chronic constipations. RJGHC. - 2011. - Т.21. – No.4. – pp. 90-91.
• ⁴Resolution of the expert council devoted to problems of diagnostics and treatment of gastrointestinal tract functional diseases // RJGHC.-26 (4.) - pp. 109-110.