2023, Volume 16, Issue 7, pp 1050 – 1056

Vibrating colon-stimulating capsule to treat chronic constipation: A systematic review

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Authors and Affiliations

Corresponding Author: Renju Ravi, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: rravi@jazanu.edu.sa

These authors have contributed equally.

Abstract

In August 2022, the United States Food and Drug Administration issued marketing authorization for an orally administered vibrating colon-stimulating capsule for treating chronic idiopathic constipation. We aimed to review the literature systematically and synthesize evidence on the role of the vibrating capsule in chronic idiopathic constipation. A comprehensive search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (World Health Organization), Cochrane Library databases, and two pre-print servers (medRxiv.org and Research Square) until 31 December 2022, to identify published pre-clinical and clinical original studies evaluating the role of the vibrating capsule in patients with chronic constipation. The studies were critically analyzed, and data were extracted. We identified thirty-three articles and five studies (one pre-clinical, one combined, and three clinical). The pre-clinical studies in dogs revealed no adverse effects of the vibrating capsule. In the clinical studies, there were significant findings observed. The number of spontaneous bowel movements per week and the proportion of patients experiencing an increase of at least one complete spontaneous bowel movement per week were both significantly higher in the group receiving the vibrating capsule compared to the group receiving the sham capsule. No treatment-related serious adverse event was noted. The mild adverse events were vibration sensation, diarrhea, and abdominal discomfort. The efficacy and safety profiles of the vibrating colon-stimulating capsule in treating patients with chronic constipation are promising. However, more robust evidence is required by conducting large randomized clinical trials before conclusively determining its wider use.

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About this article

PMC ID: 10600682
PubMed ID: 
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2023-1025

Article Publishing Date (print): 7 2023
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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