IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME

The paper gives a concise review of the present views of the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), its clinical symptoms and algorithms for its diagnosis and differential diagnosis. It emphasizes the importance of excluding intestinal diseases that have a certain morphological substrate and that run with IBS-like symptoms. The main groups of non-drug methods and current agents used to treat IBS with diarrhea or constipation are presented; medications that are undergoing clinical trials are also indicated. There is a concept of bowel training in which regular defecation may be formed during a rather long-term course of therapy with a laxative such as polyethylene glycol 4000 (Forlax). Neuroplasticity is likely to underlie this action.

irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, bowel training phenomenon