Effectiveness and Tolerability of Senna Tea Combined with Lactulose Syrup in Patients with Intestinal Constipation

Abstract

The intestinal constipation is one of the most prevalent symptoms amongst advanced cancer patients, particularly those taking opioid analgesics, and it can cause extreme suffering and discomfort, affecting patients’ quality of life. Thus, an efficient and well-tolerated treatment for this condition is a very important component of palliative care. In general, a combination of laxatives is most likely to be successful with minimum adverse effects. Senna is a natural stimulant laxative known as the most powerful of the anthracene purges. Lactulose is a laxative that acts retaining fluid in the bowel by osmosis and it is not appropriate for treatment of constipation as unique agent where gut motility is impaired. Hence, we evaluated the effects and tolerability of a combination of those two agents in patients with intestinal constipation.