title: Symptom-based diagnostic criteria for irritable bowel syndrome: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
abstract: Medical students are taught that 90% of all diagnoses are made through careful assessment of the patients' symptoms. Clinicians now rely heavily on techniques such as endoscopy or radiology before making a definitive diagnosis of organic disease. Most gastroenterologists would require endoscopic confirmation before labeling a patient as having peptic ulcer disease and would make a diagnosis of Crohn disease based on small bowel radiology or colonoscopy. However, the most common causes of symptoms of the gastrointestinal tract are functional. It is important that clinicians obtain a thorough history so that the disorder of the patient can be accurately defined.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, Department of Medicine, McMaster University Medical Centre, 1200 Main Street West, HSC Room 4W8E, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3Z5 Canada. moayyep@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moayyedi
authors.forename: Alexander C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ford
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003938:Diagnostic Techniques, Digestive System; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity