© 2002 by Gut
SUMMARY 2
Investigation of visceral sensation in humans
Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome; visceral perception; functional dyspepsia; sensory perception
Patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders present with abdominal symptoms which have no apparent organic cause. It has been well established that these patients have a sensory dysfunction that affects exclusively the viscera. However, the extent of the dysfunction in the different clinical syndromes and the origin of visceral hyperalgesia remain obscure. Some data indicate that the sensory dysfunction in these patients is associated with altered reflex activity, and both mechanisms may interact to produce the symptoms, which in each clinical syndrome would depend on the particular pathways that affected. This working hypothesis would explain both the clinical pleomorphism and the frequent overlap of functional gastrointestinal disorders.
It is well known that there is a higher prevalence of current anxiety, depression, and global psychological symptoms among patients with IBS compared with patients in other medical clinics. It is likely therefore that visceral pain and limbic pathways overlap. Abnormalities that upregulate afferent
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