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Bile Acid Malabsorption, Diarrhoea and Steatorrhoea

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Bile Acids in Health and Disease

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Abstract

Interruption of the enterohepatic circulation by ileal resection or ileal disease causes bile acid malabsorption and diarrhoea. Large ileal resection (> 100cm) causes, in addition to bile acid malabsorption, significant steatorrhoea1–4. As a rule, the diarrhoea caused by short ileal resections responds to treatment with a bile acid binding resin, such as cholestyramine, while that caused by large ileal resections does not1, 2, 5. Faecal weight can sometimes be reduced by replacement of dietary fat with medium chain triglycerides2. These observations, together with experiments demonstrating that dihydroxy bile acids and fatty acids adversely affect intestinal electrolyte and water transport, have led to the concepts of ‘bile acid’ and ‘fatty acid’ diarrhoea6.

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  1. Division of Gastroenterology, Henry Ford Hospital, 2799 W. Grand Blvd, MI 48202, Detroit, USA

    H. V. Ammon

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  1. Department of Medicine, St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK

    Tim Northfield , Riadh Jazrawi  & Patrick Zentler-Munro ,  & 

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Ammon, H.V. (1988). Bile Acid Malabsorption, Diarrhoea and Steatorrhoea. In: Northfield, T., Jazrawi, R., Zentler-Munro, P. (eds) Bile Acids in Health and Disease. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1249-6_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1249-6_20

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