title: Enterotachogram analysis to distinguish irritable bowel syndrome from Crohn's disease.
abstract: Crohn's disease is often initially misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome. The goal of this research was to determine if computerized auscultation (fasting enterotachogram analysis) could have a role in distinguishing between these diagnoses. Patients with irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, and a control group were enrolled in the study. The fasting sound-to-sound interval, standard deviation of the interval, sounds per minute, and percentage time involved with bowel sounds was determined by computerized enterotachogram analysis. The mean sound-to-sound interval for the Crohn's group (1232 msecs) and the controls (1706 msecs) was significantly higher than the irritable bowel group (511 msecs, P < 0.0001). We conclude that Crohn's is not characterized by a shortened interval. The high negative predictive value of the fasting enterotachogram for irritable bowel syndrome suggests that an interval greater than 740 msecs should trigger a search for an alternative diagnosis to irritable bowel. Crohn's disease should be included in that differential.
authors.affiliation: Western Research Company, Inc., Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA.
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Craine
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Silpa
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: O'Toole
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001314:Auscultation; D003109:Colonic Diseases, Functional / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve