© 2003 by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Society of Gastroenterology
LEADING ARTICLE
From comic relief to real understanding; how intestinal gas causes symptoms
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr E M M Quigley
Department of Medicine, Clinical Sciences Building, Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland; e.quigley{at}ucc.ie
Gas content and transit appear to conspire with the motor and sensory responses of the gut to produce gas related symptoms, both in normal individuals and especially in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In relation to gas in IBS, two questions need to be addressed: do IBS patients produce more gas and what are the relationships between intestinal gas and symptoms? The balance of evidence seems to indicate that distension is a real phenomenon in IBS and that such distension accurately reflects gas content. More problematic is extrapolation of the observations relating symptoms to gas transit and retention.
Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome; functional bowel disorders; gastrointestinal motility; gut sensation; intestinal gas
Abbreviations: IBS, irritable bowel syndrome
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Gut 2003 52: 1708-1713.
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