Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Endosc. Feb 16, 2024; 16(2): 83-90
Published online Feb 16, 2024. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v16.i2.83
Coca-Cola consumption vs fragmentation in the management of patients with phytobezoars: A prospective randomized controlled trial
Fu-Guo Liu, De-Feng Meng, Xia Shen, Dan Meng, Ying Liu, Ling-Yun Zhang
Fu-Guo Liu, De-Feng Meng, Xia Shen, Dan Meng, Ying Liu, Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Ling-Yun Zhang, Endoscopy Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Liu FG designed the study and reviewed the manuscript. Liu Y and Shen X collected the data; Meng DF analyzed the data. Meng D and Zhang LY wrote and drafted the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University (QYFYWZLL 26293).
Clinical trial registration statement: The study was registered in the ClinicalTrial.gov Protocol Registration System, registration No. NCT05645263.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this work.
Data sharing statement: All data available from the corresponding author at zhanglingyun@qdu.edu.cn
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ling-Yun Zhang, MA, Adjunct Associate Professor, Endoscopy Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, No. 59 Haier Road, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China. zhanglingyun@qdu.edu.cn
Received: October 28, 2023
Peer-review started: October 28, 2023
First decision: December 29, 2023
Revised: January 4, 2024
Accepted: January 16, 2024
Article in press: January 16, 2024
Published online: February 16, 2024
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gastric phytobezoars (GPBs) are very common in northern China. Combined therapy involving carbonated beverage consumption and endoscopic lithotripsy has been shown to be effective and safe. Existing studies on this subject are often case reports highlighting the successful dissolution of phytobezoars through Coca-Cola consumption. Consequently, large-scale prospective investigations in this domain remain scarce. Therefore, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the effects of Coca-Cola consumption on GPBs.

AIM

To evaluate the impact of Coca-Cola on GPBs, including the dissolution rate, medical expenses, ulcer rate, and operation time.

METHODS

A total of 160 consecutive patients diagnosed with GPBs were allocated into two groups (a control group and an intervention group) through computer-generated randomization. Patients in the intervention group received a Coca-Cola-based regimen (Coca-Cola 2000-4000 mL per day for 7 d), while those in the control group underwent emergency fragmentation.

RESULTS

Complete dissolution of GPBs was achieved in 100% of the patients in the intervention group. The disparity in expenses between the control group and intervention group (t = 25.791, P = 0.000) was statistically significant, and the difference in gastric ulcer occurrence between the control group and intervention group (χ2 = 6.181, P = 0.013) was also statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Timely ingestion of Coca-Cola yields significant benefits, including a complete dissolution rate of 100%, a low incidence of gastric ulcers, no need for fragmentation and reduced expenses.

Keywords: Coca-Cola, Bezoars, Solubility, Lithotripsy, Gastroscopy

Core Tip: The timely and sufficient ingestion of Coca-Cola by patients with phytobezoars yields significant benefits, including a high rate of complete dissolution, a low incidence of gastric ulcers, no need for surgery, and reduced medical expenses.