Chronic abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome – current and future therapies

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gut disorder that typically manifests in early adult years. One of the two major symptoms of the disease is chronic, visceral pain. The patients report pain as the most distressing symptom with the greatest impact on quality of life, challenging both to patients and healthcare providers.

Areas covered: This review focuses on the pathophysiology of abdominal pain in IBS and describes current treatment possibilities. It also covers latest findings that may lead to novel pharmacological options in IBS pain management.

Expert commentary: Pain is the main contributor to severity in IBS. Seeking pain alleviation is the most common reason that IBS sufferers consult with their physicians. Not all patients report being satisfied with available treatments for pain in IBS and there is a pressing need to find new, more efficient therapies for this syndrome.

KEYWORDS:

• Irritable bowel syndrome
• visceral pain
• chronic pain
• pharmacotherapy
• pain management
• microbiota

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

A reviewer on this manuscript has disclosed that they belong to an endowed research division from LTT-Bio Pharma. Ltd. in Japan.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the grant from the Medical University of Lodz (503/1-156-04/503-11-001 to JF).