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The basic principle for treatment of idiopathic diarrhea is to delay transit through the gut in order to promote absorption of electrolytes and water. Under mild conditions bulking agents may suffice. With increasing severity, antidiarrheal pharmaceuticals may be added in a stepwise manner. Bile salt malabsorption is a clear indication for adsorptive resins, while in idiopathic diarrhea peripherally-acting opioid receptor agonists, such as loperamide, is the first-line treatment. Second-line treatment with approved indication for severe diarrhea when other treatment options fail includes opium drops. More advanced treatments are to be used by clinicians with specialist knowledge and experience in the field.

Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is an unusual condition in which massive amounts of gelatinous fluid collections are associated with mucinous implants on the peritoneal and omental surfaces. Recent molecular genetic studies suggest the appendix as the most common primary origin of this disease. Surgical debulking in a combination with intraperitoneal (i.p.) chemotherapy has been advocated to treat this disease. Thirty patients were treated for PMP, by this concept, at Uppsala University hospital between 1993 and April 2003. One patient died because of septic complications (inhospital mortality 3 per cent). Twenty-nine patients are alive after median follow-up of 16 months (range 1-92), 18 of them tumor free.