Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Managing chemotherapy diarrhea in dogs with smectite treatment
By Fournier, Quentin et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2021·Hospital for Small Animals, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Chemotherapy-induced diarrhoea in dogs and its management with smectite: Results of a monocentric open-label randomized clinical trial.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs undergoing chemotherapy developed diarrhea, a common side effect of the treatment. In a study, some dogs were given a natural clay called smectite to see if it would help manage their diarrhea, while others did not receive any initial treatment. The dogs that received smectite had a much quicker recovery, with diarrhea resolving in about 19.5 hours on average, compared to 53 hours for those who didn't get smectite. The findings suggest that smectite is effective for managing chemotherapy-induced diarrhea in dogs.
People also search for: dog diarrhea after chemotherapy · smectite for dog diarrhea · how to treat dog diarrhea from chemo
Abstract
Chemotherapy-induced diarrhoea (CID) is a frequent chemotherapy adverse event in dogs. Yet, there is currently no consensus regarding its management. Smectite is a natural medical clay, widely used in the treatment of acute diarrhoea in humans. The objectives of this study were to assess the efficacy of smectite in the management of CID in dogs, and to collect epidemiological data on CID. For each episode of diarrhoea, dogs were randomized into two management groups: Smectite group, receiving smectite at 0.5 g/kg PO per day divided in two to three doses initiated at the start of CID; control group, without initial medication. In both groups, rescue metronidazole was prescribed if CID progressed or was not improved within 48 hours. Sixty dogs were recruited and received 426 chemotherapy administrations between June 2017 and March 2019. The incidence rate of CID was 110/426 (25.8%, 95% CI: 21.7%-30.2%), and significantly differed between the chemotherapeutic drugs administered (P < .001). Metronidazole was administered in 5/54 events (9.3%, 95% CI: 3.1%-20.3%) in the smectite group and in 40/56 events (71.4%, 95% CI: 57.5%-82.3%) in the control group (P < .001). The time to resolution of diarrhoea was shorter (P < .001) in the smectite group (median: 19.5 hours, interquartile range [IQR]: 13.5-32 hours) compared with the control group (median: 53 hours, IQR: 31.5-113.5 hours). The results of this study support the administration of smectite in the first-line management of CID in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32562450/