Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Endosc. May 16, 2024; 16(5): 237-243
Published online May 16, 2024. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v16.i5.237
Has Coca-Cola treatment become the first-line therapy for gastric bezoars, both in general and specifically for western countries?
Maria Delgado Galan, Luis Ramon Rabago
Maria Delgado Galan, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Severo Ochoa, Leganes 28914, Spain
Luis Ramon Rabago, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital San Rafael, Madrid 28016, Spain
Co-first authors: Maria Delgado Galan and Luis Ramon Rabago.
Author contributions: Delgado Galan M conducted the literature review on the topic, while Rabago LR concentrated on the critical analysis of the randomized trial's discussion and conclusion.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
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: Luis Ramon Rabago, MD, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital San Rafael, Street Serrano 199, Madrid 28016, Spain. lrabagot@gmail.com
Received: March 19, 2024
Revised: April 10, 2024
Accepted: April 29, 2024
Published online: May 16, 2024
Processing time: 55 Days and 7.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The study by Liu et al, is a prospective randomized study about the treatment of gastric phytobezoars through daily intake of Coca-Cola vs endoscopic treatment, and represents an important step in clinical research on this topic. Given the promising outcomes of the Coca-Cola treatment observed in this study, which demonstrated a 100% success rate in dissolving phytobezoars and showed reduced costs and occurrence of gastric ulcers, it is recommended as a primary treatment option for phytobezoars. The study's exclusions, such as patients with upper gastric surgery, phytobezoars older than 14 d, and cases of gastroparesis, limit its applicability to broader populations, especially in Western countries.