Short Bowel Syndrome in Adults - Part 5 Trophic Agents in the Treatment of Short Bowel Syndrome

An important goal when treating the short bowel syndrome (SBS) patient who requires parenteral nutrition or fluid support is to reduce dependency on this support and, whenever possible, to eliminate its use altogether. There is great interest in the use of growth factors in patients with SBS who have been unable to achieve enteral independence during the adaptive period despite optimization of diet and medical management. A number of pharmacological agents have been demonstrated to induce trophic properties on the intestinal epithelium. In Part V, the final part of this series on SBS, we will focus on somatropin, a recombinant human growth hormone, and teduglutide, a recombinant human glucagon-like peptide-2 analogue, the currently approved trophic factors available for use as aids to wean parenteral support in SBS.