New modalities in the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in cystic fibrosis

Pancreatic insufficiency is the second most important pathophysiological expression of cystic fibrosis (CF) and occurs in the majority of patients. It leads to fat malabsorption and high energy losses in the stools and is one of the major causes of malnutrition often seen in CF. Although the development of enteric-coated enzyme preparations offers a dramatic improvement in therapy, it is still difficult to achieve complete correction of fat malabsorption. The cause for this treatment failure is the relative acidic environment in the duodenum induced by a decreased pancreatic bicarbonate output. To improve the efficacy of enteric-coated preparations the dissolution of these preparations in the duodenum must be optimised in order to achieve a high intraduodenal enzyme concentration. With the aim to increase intraduodenal pH, additional therapy with H2-antagonists and oral prostaglandins has been tested without unequivocal success. Omeprazole, a gastric acid inhibitor with more potency and duration of action compared to H2-antagonists, improves the efficacy of enteric-coated capsules of pancreatin dramatically. With a daily dose of 20 mg in addition to Pancrease (3 x 4 capsules) near normalization of faecal fat excretion will be reached in most CF patients with persistent steatorrhoea.