Chronic Abdominal Pain (with Emphasis on Functional Abdominal Pain Syndrome)

FAPS is a distinct medical disorder, part of the group of functional gastrointestinal disorders. These disorders are characterized by chronic, recurrent, or continuous abdominal pain that is poorly related to gut function, often not well localized. They are more properly understood as an abnormal perception of normal (regulatory) gut function rather than as a motility disorder . Criteria for a diagnosis of FAPS are derived from a consensus of experts in the study of functional gastrointestinal disorders (Table 5-2) . These experts have published criteria, the Rome II diagnostic criteria, for diagnosis of these various functional conditions, among them FAPS .1' 2 Follow-up studies over several years of patients who meet diagnostic criteria for FAPS rarely yield other specific causes of chronic abdominal pain .3, 4 FAPS is commonly associated with the reporting of other unpleasant somatic symptoms, and when it persists and/or dominates the patient's life, it is usually associated with