Chronic constipation: focus on laxatives, stimulating peristalsis
Parfenov A.I., Indeikin L.H., Pavlov M.V.

Moscow Clinical Research Center

High prevalence of chronic constipation (HC) is one of the urgent problems in gastroenterology. Currently 3 basic pathogenetic variants of HC are allocated: colon dyskinesia, characteristic for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional constipation, according to the Rome criteria - type I; slow intestinal transit, due to myo- and neuropathy of different origins (inertial colon) - type II; pelvic floor dyssynergia, causing discoordination of muscles, involved in stool evacuation - type III. HC can be treated with a wide arsenal of laxatives with different mechanisms of action. Patients often use drugs from the group of stimulant laxatives due to their low cost, accessibility and relatively stable effect. Laxatives are well tolerated when used in doses that stimulate soft formed stool. Basic rules of laxatives usage are shortness of use and selection of minimal effective dose, making it possible to avoid side effects. The paper gives detailed HC diagnostic algorithm, pathogenetic action of different groups of drugs, some non-drug treatments for HC.

Key words: chronic constipation, laxatives, Rome criteria, algorithm of diagnostics, treatment of chronic constipation

For citation: Parfenov A.I., Indeikin L.H., Pavlov M.V. Chronic constipation: focus on laxatives, stimulating peristalsis // RMJ. 2016. № 17. P. 1167–1171.