Therapeutic strategy in irritable bowel syndrome

Functional gastrointestinal disorders are among the most frequent problems encountered not only in specialised gastroenterology consultations, but also in general medical practice (1,2). Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a major component of this group of disorders. This syndrome was first clearly identified and defined by Manning (Table 1) (3). Using his criteria a positive diagnosis can be proposed in the absence of an organic disease. More recently working parties on functional gastrointestinal disorders have developed new definitions and criteria. These are synthesised in the recently published Rome