Abstract
BACKGROUND: Probiotics are effective in inflammatory bowel diseases. Clinical effectiveness and dose dependency of E. coli Nissle (EcN) enemas were investigated in ulcerative colitis (UC). METHODS: In a double-blind study, 90 patients with moderate distal activity in UC were randomly assigned to treatment with either 40, 20, or 10 ml enemas (N = 24, 23, 23) containing 10E8 EcN/ml or placebo (N = 20). The study medication was taken once daily for at least 2 weeks. After 2, 4 and/or 8 weeks the clinical DAI was assessed together with tolerance to treatment. Patients who reached clinical DAI