Prucalopride in intestinal pseudo obstruction, paediatric experience and systematic review

Background: Intestinal pseudo obstruction both acute and chronic is an uncommon severe motility disorder that affect both children and adults, can lead to significant morbidity burden and have no standard management strategy. Prucalopride a highly selective serotonin receptor agonist is an effective laxative with reported extra colon action. We aim to report our experience in children with acute and chronic intestinal pseudo obstruction who responded to prucalopride and systemically review the use of prucalopride in intestinal pseudo obstruction.

Methods: A report of clinical experience and systemic review of the relevant medical databases to identify the outcome of usage of prucalopride in patients with acute and chronic intestinal pseudo obstruction. Studies meeting the selection criteria were reviewed including abstract only and case reports.

Results: All reported cases showed clinical response to prucalopride. There were three full text, two abstracts only and three case reports all reporting clinical improvement with prucalopride.

Conclusion: Prucalopride appears to show promising results in children and adults with acute and chronic intestinal pseudo obstruction.