title: Prevalence of organic colonic lesions in patients meeting Rome III criteria for diagnosis of IBS: a prospective multi-center study utilizing colonoscopy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It remains unknown whether the Rome III criteria can exclude organic colonic lesions prior to the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We evaluated the colonoscopy results of patients meeting the Rome III criteria for the diagnosis of IBS to determine the presence of organic colonic lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was prospectively conducted at 17 centers in Japan. We enrolled 4528 patients who underwent diagnostic colonoscopy examinations. The diagnosis of IBS was evaluated by questionnaire results according to the Rome III criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We evaluated 4178 patients (350 were excluded because of incomplete data or previous colonic surgery), of whom 203 met the Rome III criteria (mean age 57.9 years; range 14-87 years) prior to the diagnostic colonoscopy examination. We identified organic colonic diseases in 21 of these 203 patients (10.3 %) , and these disease were also identified in 338 (8.5 %) of 3975 patients who did not fulfill the Rome III criteria. There were no differences in regard to the prevalence of organic colonic diseases between patients who did and did not fulfill the Rome III criteria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of organic colonic diseases in patients who met the Rome III criteria was at an acceptably low level, indicating that the Rome III criteria are adequately specific for the diagnosis of IBS without performing a colonoscopy examination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine II, Shimane University, 89-1, Enya-cho, Izumo, Shimane, Japan. si360405@med.shimane-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yashima
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kushiyama
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Izumi
authors.forename: Kousaku
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujishiro
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kojo
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Komazawa
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hamamoto
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Tatsunori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Teiji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furuta
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Noguchi
authors.forename: Hisao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murawaki
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology*; D003113:Colonoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult