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World J Gastroenterol. Mar 14, 2014; 20(10): 2499-2514
Published online Mar 14, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i10.2499
Published online Mar 14, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i10.2499
Irritable bowel syndrome: The evolution of multi-dimensional looking and multidisciplinary treatments
Full-Young Chang, Environmental Health and Safety Office and Division of Gastroenterology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei 11217, Taiwan
Author contributions: Chang FY contributed to the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Full-Young Chang, MD, Professor, Environmental Health and Safety Office and Division of Gastroenterology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, 201 Shih-Pai Road, Section 2, Taipei 11217, Taiwan. changfy@vghtpe.gov.tw
Telephone: +886-2-28757308 Fax:+886-2-28757310
Received: September 12, 2013
Revised: October 16, 2013
Accepted: January 2, 2014
Published online: March 14, 2014
Revised: October 16, 2013
Accepted: January 2, 2014
Published online: March 14, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is common in the society. Patients with this disorder have a poor quality of life with severe impact on their social and economic burdens. Its pathogenesis remains evolutional, involving biological, psychiatric and social factors. Therefore, the biopsychosocial dysfunctional model has attempted to integrate all the above mentioned mechanisms in order to understand how IBS can develop under such complex interaction. Since the etiology of IBS is heterogeneous, the currently recommended treatments are multidisciplinary and also individualized, e.g., using different classes of drugs, psychiatric measures, probiotics and antibiotics, dietary therapy, and finally complementary and alternative medicines.