Visceral hypersensitivity in functional bowel disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to investigate the association between visceral hypersensitivity and bowel frequency in patients with functional bowel disorders
IRAS ID
260447
Contact name
Lesley Houghton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Functional bowel disorders are common gastrointestinal (digestive) conditions and include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional constipation (FC), and functional diarrhoea (FDr). In all of these conditions, patients experience a change in their bowel frequency and form, with either looser and more frequent stools (diarrhoea), or harder and less frequent stools (constipation). Patients with IBS may report that one of these patterns predominates, or else they may describe alternating between diarrhoea and constipation. Bowel symptoms are accompanied by the presence of abdominal pain in IBS, but this is not the case for FC and FDr.
Visceral sensitivity, which refers to how the bowel responds to stimulation such as distention, has long been recognised as part of the cause of functional bowel disorders. Traditionally, it has been thought that the presence of visceral hypersensitivity correlates with the presence of abdominal pain. Previous studies have investigated how bowel frequency and visceral sensitivity might relate to one another, but data is limited and results are conflicting.
There are treatments available which might help to reduce problems of visceral sensitivity. It is therefore important to understand which patients are more likely to have visceral hypersensitivity, which may assist doctors in selecting treatment. It is also important for our understanding of how patients are selected for participation in trials of new drugs for treating functional bowel disorders.
This study aims to improve our understanding of the relationship between bowel frequency and visceral sensitivity in functional bowel disorders using rectal barostat tests.
REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NE/0196
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion