In rare instances, certain popular bowel-cleansing preparations that patients gulp down the day before a procedure can severely damage the kidneys.
The products are oral preparations made with sodium phosphate and they include Visicol tablets, sold by prescription, and over-the-counter solutions like Fleet-Phosphosoda and store-brand versions that contain the same active ingredients.
A team of doctors from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons recently reported 21 cases of acute kidney failure from such products, including three that led to permanent dialysis and one to a kidney transplant. The study appeared in the November issue of The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
The new findings lengthen the list of people who may be especially vulnerable to kidney damage. Among the dozen or so groups now thought to have a slightly elevated risk are healthy elderly people, patients with unstable angina or who have had heart attacks and anyone who is especially likely to become dehydrated, including people who take certain hypertensiondrugs and people who do not drink enough fluid to replenish that lost in bowel cleansing.
While experts agree that the likelihood of severe kidney damage is very small, some say that any added risk is unnecessary, and that people in these risk groups should avoid phosphate-based bowel preparations.
Courtesy of NY Times
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