Aluminium hydroxide in bile-salt diarrhoea.

The treatment of choleraic diarrhoea remains a problem. Cholestyramine is effective but long-term treatment is often impracticable. In-vitro studies have shown that aluminium hydroxide has bile-acid-binding properties comparable with those of cholestyramine. The bile-acid-binding properties of aluminium hydroxide have now been investigated in vivo and applied to the treatment of patients with choleraic diarrhoea. Aluminium hydroxide increased the faecal bile-salt concentration of patients with a normal bowel habit whereas magnesium hydroxide had no effect. Eight patients with severe choleraic diarrhoea were treated with aluminium-hydroxide suspension: bowel motion became less frequent and daily faecal weight fell.