The Vibrant vibrating capsule is being tested for treatment of constipation that hasn't responded to normal medications. (Photo11: Vibrant) 
 
 Millions of people suffer from constipation — sometimes so bad it can go on for months or years. Medications are effective, but as many as half of all those with chronic constipation get little relief or suffer significant side effects, studies show. 
 
 Now an Israeli company, Vibrant, is testing a capsule that would vibrate in the colon, rather than deliver medications. 
 
 Adding movements inside the lower intestine mimics peristalsis, the biological process that pushes waves of waste through the bowel. The researchers hope it will break up clumps of waste and encourage the system to work more normally. 
 
 They have only just begun to test the multivitamin-sized pill, releasing results Saturday showing it was safely tested in 26 patients who have bowel movements just twice a week on average. 
 
 Much bigger, longer trials are needed to show whether the pill will be effective, said Yishai Ron, the research leader and a gastroenterologist at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. But early tests showed promising results, said Ron, who treats a handful of the patients and presented his results Saturday at Digestive Disease Week, an international gathering of experts, being held in Chicago. 
 
 "Some of them did stop medication. Some of them really resolved constipation," he said. "In some of them the constipation returned, but they were able to not use those medications anymore." 
 
 Eamonn Quigley, chief of gastroenterology at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, said he's never heard of any other device-based approach to treating constipation. 
 
 "It's completely novel," said Quigley, who's been hired by Vibrant to design its next research trial, comparing the effectiveness of the vibrating pill against a placebo that does nothing. "I think it's an intriguing technology, which deserves some further study," he said. 
 
 The idea of using a pill to mimic the normal movements of the bowel makes biological sense, said Douglas Drossman, founder of the Center for Functional GI and Motility Disorders at the University of North Carolina and a gastroenterologist in private practice in Chapel Hill. Drossman, who is not involved in the work, said he was impressed with their early results. 
 
 "This is enough information to say they really should study it further and identify a target group who might benefit," he said. 
 
 Constipation is a common problem, affecting 10% to 15% of people, particularly women, and increasing with age. 
 
 The patients' quality of life can be poor, Drossman said. "They may not travel because they're fearful of needing to know where the bathroom is. They feel bloated, uncomfortable." 
 
 Patients taking laxatives generally need an increasingly large dose over time, potentially leading to serious side effects, Ron said. It's too early to know whether the capsule will have long-term side effects. 
 
 Ron said the capsule is designed to pulsate three times a minute, roughly the same pace the colon contracts to move waste products through. It starts vibrating 6-8 hours after being swallowed — roughly the time it takes for food to reach the lower part of the digestive system — so the vibrations are not perceptible, he said. 
 
 Patients in the trial took the capsules twice a week for two weeks. It is too early to know how much the pills will cost or how long a patient would need to take the single-use capsules to clear up constipation. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| People who can’t get relief from laxatives may have a drug-free alternative — a vibrating capsule that kick-starts the bowels with a little massage from the inside. 
 
 The pill’s still experimental and not approved yet, so it's not available. A team of Israeli researchers, with U.S. federal funding, has been testing the device in volunteers with chronic constipation or irritable bowel syndrome. 
 
 The capsule nearly doubled the number of bowel movements from two to four a week, Yishai Ron of the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and colleagues told the Digestive Disease Week meeting. 
 
 “The capsule was activated and started vibrating six hours after administration in a special mode developed by Vibrant Ltd,” the researchers wrote in a summary of their findings. “Each patient received two capsules per week and filled a daily bowel movement and laxative use questionnaire. On each follow-up visit, expelled capsules were collected and side effects were recorded.” 
 
 All the patients were healthy and had been screened for colon cancer. 
 
 “Two patients had minor complaints of abdominal pain during the study period which resolved spontaneously during the study, two patients complained about diarrhea, one about flatulence and one of sensation abdominal wall twitches. No other related side effects were reported," Ron's team wrote. 
 
 Up to half of patients with chronic constipation are unhappy with the results they get from laxatives, the researchers reported. ||||| Chicago, IL (May 3, 2014) -- An oral capsule that vibrates as it moves through the digestive tract has shown notable promise as a non-pharmacological treatment for constipation, according to new research presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW). In the pilot study, the vibrating capsule was found to nearly double the weekly bowel movements of patients suffering from chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) and constipation predominant irritable bowel syndrome (C-IBS). 
 
 "Despite the widespread use of medication to treat constipation, nearly 50 percent of patients are unsatisfied with the treatment either because of side effects, safety concerns about long-term use, or the fact that it simply doesn't work," said Yishai Ron, MD, lead researcher for the study and director of Neurogastroenterology and Motility at Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center's Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 
 
 Twenty-six patients took the vibrating capsule twice per week and responded to a daily bowel movement and laxative use questionnaire. All patients initially underwent a two-week preliminary period without the use of laxatives. Patients reported an increase in spontaneous bowel movements from two to four times per week, as well as a decrease in constipation symptoms, including reduced difficulty in passing stools and incomplete evacuation. The study also found minimal side effects from the capsule use. 
 
 The capsule, which houses a small engine inside, is programmed to begin vibrating six to eight hours after swallowing. The vibrations (mechanical stimulations) cause contractions in the intestine, which help move stool through the digestive tract. 
 
 Chronic constipation is a highly prevalent disorder that affects approximately 15 percent of the U.S. population. Symptoms can be burdensome, leading to a reduction in patients' quality of life. 
 
 "Sometimes, drug therapies bring more issues than relief for these patients," Dr. Ron said. "The results of this study point to the potential for an alternative treatment that avoids the typical drug side effects, such as bloating and electrolyte imbalance, by imitating the body's natural physiology." 
 
 Dr. Ron said he and his team plan to initiate a controlled, double blind study to expand on these findings and further explore the capsule's potential. 
 
 Dr. Ron will present data from the study "Vibrating Capsule for the Treatment of Chronic Idiopathic Constipation (CIC) and Constipation Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome (C-IBS) - Safety and Efficacy," abstract Sa2023, on Saturday, May 3, at 8:30 a.m. CT in the South Hall of McCormick Place. For more information about featured studies, as well as a schedule of availability for featured researchers, please visit http://www. ddw. org/ press . 
 
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 Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) is the largest international gathering of physicians, researchers and academics in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. Jointly sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), DDW takes place May 3-6, 2014, at McCormick Place, Chicago. The meeting showcases more than 5,000 abstracts and hundreds of lectures on the latest advances in GI research, medicine and technology. More information can be found at http://www. ddw. org . 
 
 Follow us on Twitter @DDWMeeting; hashtag #DDW14. Become a fan of DDW on Facebook.
– Here's a novel idea that could literally shake up the way that millions of people treat constipation: a pill that vibrates when swallowed, rather than delivering medication. The capsule, which is being developed by the Israeli company Vibrant, is the size of a multivitamin and works by mimicking the peristalsis process that pushes waste through the lower intestine, USA Today reports. Researcher Yishai Ron says it increased the number of weekly bowel movements from two to four in 26 test subjects who took it twice a week for two weeks, NBC News reports. That's good news for chronic constipation sufferers (which an estimated 15% of Americans are), as many as 50% of whom who don't get much relief from laxatives, says Ron. Six to eight hours after being swallowed—about the time food would reach the lower part of the digestive system—the Vibrant pill begins pulsating three times a minute. The action is controlled by an external base unit but isn't noticeable to the patient; the capsule is eventually expelled in a bowel movement. The pill could be a superior alternative to laxatives, researchers say, because only a few minor side effects were noted—whereas research has shown that laxatives can have serious side effects, particularly if the dose is increased over time, which is often necessary. The brief study doesn't speak to potential long-term effects, though; more extensive trials are planned. (Weird sidebar: Elvis' longtime doctor claims the King died of chronic constipation.)