FD and IBS Patients Share Symptoms

Generally considered to be 2distinct disorders, functional dyspepsia(FD) and irritable bowelsyndrome (IBS) share manysymptoms. In the November 2004issue of Alimentary Pharmacologyand Therapeutics, F. Cremonini,MD, and N.J. Talley, MD, reviewedthese disorders by defining featuresthat they have in commonand those that are unique to each.

Symptoms commonly reportedby patients with both disordersinclude bloating, epigastric pain, indigestion,and vomiting. Both patientpopulations also experienced exaggeratedmotor response to meals,delayed gastric emptying, abnormalsmall bowel and colonic transit, andvisceral hypersensitivity. Other studiesshowed that diagnoses mayswitch over time; 15% of patientswho first present with dyspepsiamay be classified as having IBS just1 year later. The authors also identifiednumerous commonalities inthe pathophysiology of each disease.They concluded that at leastsome subsets of FD and IBSpatients might represent differentmanifestations of a single, broadspectrumcondition, rather than 2distinctly different abnormalities.