Irritable bowel syndrome: surgion’s view

S.E. Katorkin, S.A. Bystrov, O.E. Lisin, A.I. Bezborodov, V.E. Shestakov, A.A. Lisina, A.V. Arustamyan, D.E. Lisin

Samara State Medical University

Aim: to determine the rate of patients with abdominal pain syndrome and defecation disorder as manifestations of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the total patients flow seeking emergency care in a surgical hospital on duty.

Patients and methods: a retrospective analysis of 240 patient’s case histories (18 to 40 years) who sought medical care in the emergency surgical hospital with complaints of abdominal pain and defecation disorder. During the follow-up examination, all patients were divided into 3 groups: group I — patients with surgical pathology, group II — patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, and group III — patients with IBS.

Results: unbearable abdominal pain was observed in 6.09% of group I, severe and moderate pain — in 39.13% and 48.7%, respectively. Mild pain was observed in 6.08% of patients. Diarrhea developed in 18.5% of patients, constipation — in 24.3%, alternation of d iarrhea and constipation — in 10%. Defecation disorders were absent in 47.2% of patients. In the group II, severe abdominal pain was observed in 24.5%, moderate pain — in 52.3%, and mild pain — in 23.2% of patients. Unbearable pain was not noted by any of the patients in this group. The major defecation disorder in this group was diarrhea (84.38%), 9.37% of patients had an alternation of constipation and diarrhea. Constipation developed in 6.25% of cases. Group III had no unbearable pain, however, 25.6% of patients had severe pain. Most of the subjects noted moderate pain intensity (48.2%). Mild pain was observed in 26.1% of patients. Constipation in this patient’s category was observed in 46.4% of cases, diarrhea — in 36.2%. Alternation of constipation and diarrhea was noted in 17.3% of patients.

Conclusion: a significant rate of patients who attended the emergency surgical hospital are patients with IBS. Knowledge of clinical IBS patterns allows referring  a patient to a gastroenterologist in a timely manner.

Keywords: irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, acute surgical pathology, differential diagnosis, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal syndrome.

For citation: Katorkin S.E., Bystrov S.A., Lisin O.E. et al. Irritable bowel syndrome: surgion’s view. RMJ. 2019;7:30–33.