Patient-Specific Stress-Abdominal Pain Interaction in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: An Exploratory Experience Sampling Method Study.

Introduction: Gastrointestinal symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have been correlated with psychological factors using retrospective symptom assessment. However, real-time symptom assessment might reveal the interplay between abdominal and affective symptoms more reliably in a longitudinal perspective. The aim was to evaluate the association between stress and abdominal pain, using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) as a real-time, repeated measurement method.

Development, content validity, and cross-cultural adaptation of a patient-reported outcome measure for real-time symptom assessment in irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: End-of-day questionnaires, which are considered the gold standard for assessing abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), are influenced by recall and ecological bias. The experience sampling method (ESM) is characterized by random and repeated assessments in the natural state and environment of a subject, and herewith overcomes these limitations. This report describes the development of a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) based on the ESM principle, taking into account content validity and cross-cultural adaptation.

Update on pathogenesis and predictors of response of therapeutic strategies used in inflammatory bowel disease.

The search for biomarkers that characterize specific aspects of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), has received substantial interest in the past years and is moving forward rapidly with the help of modern technologies. Nevertheless, there is a direct demand to identify adequate biomarkers for predicting and evaluating therapeutic response to different therapies. In this subset, pharmacogenetics deserves more attention as part of the endeavor to provide personalized medicine.

Systematic review: instruments to assess abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: Consensus on standard methods to assess chronic abdominal pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is currently lacking.

Aim: To systematically review the literature with respect to instruments of measurement of chronic abdominal pain in IBS patients.

Methods: Systematic literature search was performed in PubMed/Medline databases for studies using pain measurement instruments in patients with IBS.

Review article: The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs used in inflammatory bowel disease treatment.

Background: The following review is a compilation of the recent advances and knowledge on the behaviour of the most frequently used compounds to treat inflammatory bowel disease in an organism.

Results: It considers clinical aspects of each entity and the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationship supported by the use of plasma monitoring, tissue concentrations, and certain aspects derived from pharmacogenetics.