Abstract
IBS is one of psychosomatic diseases, which is increasing in our population. In the past 10 years, we examined 3,011 patients i.e., 1,364 males and 1,647 females. Their ages distribute from teenages to over 80 years with the peak at fifties. The duration is very long with 51% of the patients over 5 years. They have physical predispositions such as weak gastrointestinal functions and mental characters of introversion such as overseriousness and scrupulousness. There also are exacerbating incidences as interpersonal relations in their families and in offices. The syndrome is divided into 4 types as constipation, diarrhea, alternative and gaseous ones and the constipation type is the most frequent one especially among female patients. We define the syndrome with follwing criteria of (1) exclusion of organic diseases, (2) abdominal symptoms as pain and fullness, (3) defecational symptoms as feeling of incomplete evacuation and, (4) palpation of spastic colon as tender induration in the left andlor right lower abdomen. We diagnose the syndrome by observing of roentgenologically depicted contour of the whole colon contrasted by small amount of orally taken barium. The analyses of thus obtained roentgenological diagrams reveal the types of the syndrome and they can also be utilized as the object of other functional tests. We are treating the patients with multiply combined methods as educational programs, group therapies, autonomic training and Chinese methods. The results are excellent in 18%, good in 34%, fair in 40% and not improved in 8% of the patients.
