Nikos Viazis¹*, Konstantinos Mousourakis¹, Theodoros Voulgaris², Panagiotis Kanellopoulos¹, Vasilios Papastergiou¹ and George Karamanolis²

¹Department of Gastroenterology, Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece
²Department of Gastroenterology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Areteion Hospital, Athens, Greece

*Corresponding Author: Nikos Viazis, Department of Gastroenterology, Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Received: March 25, 2025; Published: March 31, 2025

Abstract

Background-Aim: Acute infectious gastroenteritis is a known risk factor for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) development; namely post-infectious IBS (PI-IBS). We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Gelsectan, an agent with both film-forming protective properties and antioxidant actions on the intestinal mucosa, in patients with PI – IBS.

Methods: We prospectively recruited patients with diarrhea-predominant PI-IBS (group A) and patients with diarrhea predominant classical IBS (D-IBS) who were used as controls (group B). Diagnosis of IBS and PI-IBS was made according to the ROME IV and the Rome Foundation Working Team criteria. Patients received for 28 days, twice daily, a capsule containing Xyloglucan, Pea Protein and Grape Seed Extract and Xylo-oligosaccharides (Gelsectan, Devintec sagl). Response to treatment was defined as disappearance of diarrhea. The presence and intensity of abdominal pain and flatulence was measured on a 1 to 5 Likert scale.

Results: From September 2021 to December 2023, 135 patients in group A and 140 patients in group B received Gelsectan. At the end of treatment, 102 patients in group A (75.5%) and 87 patients in group B (62.1%) responded (p=0.016). The difference in both abdominal pain and flatulence were significantly higher in group A as compared to group B (p = 0.04 and p=0.06 respectively). No adverse effects were observed.

Conclusions: Agents with film-forming protective properties, such as Gelsectan, represent a new alternative therapeutic option for the management of patients with PI-IBS.

Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Post-Infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Gelsectan

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Citation

Citation: Nikos Viazis., et al. “Efficacy and Safety of Gelsectan for Post-Infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome".Acta Scientific Gastrointestinal Disorders 8.4 (2025): 50-56.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Nikos Viazis., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.