Probiotic supplementation showed beneficial effect in the prevention and treatment of radiation-induced diarrhea in experimental animal studies .
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Probiotic supplementation seems to provide beneficial effects in the prevention and treatment of  radiation-induced diarrhea .
We performed a systematic review and meta- analysis to estimate the efficacy of probiotic supplementation for prevention and treatment of  radiation-induced diarrhea .
Gastrointestinal symptoms after pelvic radiotherapy: role for the gastroenterologist?
PURPOSE To analyze the cause of GI symptoms after  pelvic radiotherapy ( RT )  in a consecutive series of patients with symptoms beginning after RT . A striking lack of evidence is available concerning the optimal treatment for the 50 % of patients who develop permanent changes in bowel habits affecting their quality of life after pelvic RT . As a result , in the UK , most such patients are never referred to a gastroenterologist . METHODS AND MATERIAL S All diagnoses were prospect ively recorded from a consecutive series of patients with symptoms that started after RT and who were referred during a 32-month period to a gastroenterology clinic . Patients either underwent direct access flexible sigmoidoscopy or were investigated in a st and ard manner by one gastroenterologist after first being seen in the clinic . RESULTS A total of 265 patients referred from 15 institutions were investigated . They included 90 women ( median age , 61.5 years ; range , 22 - 84 years ) and 175 men ( median age , 70 years ; range , 31 - 85 years ) . RT had been completed a median of 3 years ( range , 0.1 - 34 years ) before the study in the women and 2 years ( range , 0 - 21 years ) before in the men . Of the 265 patients , 171 had primary urologic , 78 gynecologic , and 16 GI tumors . The GI symptoms included rectal bleeding in 171 , urgency in 82 , frequency in 80 , tenesmus , discomfort , or pain in 79 , fecal incontinence in 79 , change in bowel habit in 42 , weight loss in 19 , vomiting without other obstructive symptoms in 18 , steatorrhea in 7 , nocturnal defecation in 8 , obstructive symptoms in 4 , and other in 24 . After investigation , significant neoplasia was found in 12 % . One-third of all diagnoses were unrelated to the previous RT . More than one-half of the patients had at least two diagnoses . Many of the abnormalities diagnosed were readily treatable . The symptoms were generally unhelpful in predicting the diagnosis , with the exception of pain , which was associated with neoplasia ( p < 0.001 ) . CONCLUSION The results of our study have shown that radiation enteritis is not a single disease entity . More than one-half of the patients had more than one GI diagnosis contributing to their symptoms . After pelvic RT , specific GI symptoms were not a reliable measure of the underlying diagnoses , and the evaluation of new GI symptoms is worthwhile . An algorithm for this purpose is proposed
Probiotic supplementation showed beneficial effect in the prevention and treatment of radiation-induced diarrhea in experimental animal studies .
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Probiotic supplementation seems to provide beneficial effects in the prevention and treatment of  radiation-induced diarrhea .
We performed a systematic review and meta- analysis to estimate the efficacy of probiotic supplementation for prevention and treatment of  radiation-induced diarrhea .