Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most widely recognised functional bowel disorders, afflicting 5-10% of the global adult population. IBS is characterised by chronic or recurrent abdominal pain with a change in bowel habit, which can be relieved or exacerbated by defecation. It affects the quality of life in the patients with IBS and has a significant impact on health care use and costs, deserving more attention from people.
The current lecture presents an overview on the pathophysiology, clinical representations, diagnosis and managements of IBS. It starts with the basic physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. In particular more emphasis is laid on the interaction of gut and brain (gut–brain– microbiota axis). Next, multiple underlying mechanisms of the syndrome are explored such as genetic factors, immune activation, gastrointestinal infections. Among others, as anxiety and depressing sometimes accompany the symptoms of IBS, the relationship between IBS and mental health is discussed. Subsequently, the clinical representations of IBS are summarized with the current diagnostic criteria. The last section is focused on the treatments of IBS. They include the lifestyle adjustment, dietary intervention, antispasmodic drugs and other alternative treatments.

Apart from the theoretical knowledge, group work will be done by discussing the differential diagnosis in case studies.