All issues > Volume 18(4); 1975

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1975;18(4):294-299. Published online April 30, 1975.

A Clinical Study using Lomotil for Nonspecific Diarrhea in Children

Kwang Yean Choung¹, Min Ahn¹, Won Chull Kim¹, Duk Jin Yun¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Lomotil, a brand of Diphenoxylate hydrochloride with Atropine sulfate, is a remedy for the symptomatic control of diarrhea. Clinical trials with Lomotil in 120 cases of non-specific diarrhea in infancy and early childhood have been done for evaluation of effectiveness. The patients ranged in age from 4 months to 4 years. They were divided into 3 groups. Group I : Lomotil alone (40 cases). Group I : Lomotil with Ampicillin (40 cases). Group ffl : Kaoline alone (40 cases). Dosages depended on age and physical state and submitted to journals cited. The response to the drugs was classified as follows; “Excellent” if improvement occured within 24 hours, “Good” within 48 hours, “Fair” within 96 hours, and “Poor” if no improvement was seen after 96 hours of treatment. From this study it was seen that among the 40 patients treated with Lomotil alone, 87.5% showed an excellent to fair response, while poor results were obtained in only 12.5% of the cases. In the second group, added with Ampicillin, excellent to fair results were obtained in 90%, while poor results were obtained in only 10% of cases. The third group i.e. treated with Kaoline alone, showed excellent to fair response in only 60% of cases. Althrough Kaoline has been widely used as a non-specific measure in the treatment of diarrhea, the results of this study showed that “Lomotil” yielded more effective response in the treatment of non-specific diarrhea. Although side effects were uncommon and minimal, there were 7 patients who revealed mild abdominal distension (6 cases) and restless (1 case) under 1 year of age. These patients returned to normal after the medication was discontinued.

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