Treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with probiotics: growing evidence

abdominal pain or discomfort relieved by defecation or release of gases and by altered bowel habits, over a period of at least three months. No morphological or biochemical cause has been confirmed that links IBS with organic disease. The main symptoms of the syndrome, sensation of incomplete defecation, urgent need to defecate, rectal tenesmus, pain on defecation and mucorrhoea suggest visceral hypersensitivity. Patients often experience extra-intestinal symptoms, including back, head, joint and muscle pain, palpitations, urinary frequency, menstrual irregularities, sleep disturbances and depression. At least 50 per cent of patients have one or more somatic comorbid condition, and this comorbidity has a significant influence on the patient’s consultation pattern, diagnostic management, therapeutic plan, and the outcome of treatment1,2.