Irritable Bowel Syndrome: a Review

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common disorder encountered by gastroenterologists. It has a substantial global burden and is associated with significant disability and high costs. It adversely affects the health related quality of life of large population worldwide. A lot needs to be explored regarding the diagnosis, pathophysiology and treatment of this ailment. In order to alleviate this syndrome various new approaches are being tried to be used either alone or in combination with existing therapies. Its prevalence is found to be more in developed countries, and more in women than men. IBS is a disorder which is often missed by physicians and also suffers the ignorance of patients. Thus it becomes increasingly important to address this problem and develop new approaches to decrease the worldwide burden of this disease. This article tries to discuss the available strategies and the future frontiers regarding IBS, ranging from diagnosis to treatment.