Symptom-Based Diagnostic Criteria for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: the More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Medical students are taught that 90% of all diagnoses are made through careful assessment of the patients' symptoms. Clinicians now rely heavily on techniques such as endoscopy or radiology before making a definitive diagnosis of organic disease. Most gastroenterologists would require endoscopic confirmation before labeling a patient as having peptic ulcer disease and would make a diagnosis of Crohn disease based on small bowel radiology or …