Confocal Endomicroscopy Utility (p-CLE) in Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders. It has prevalence in general population of 5-20% and is more common in women and young adults. Despite being one of the most frequent reasons for consultation many patients are undiagnosed. There are no reliable biomarkers. The diagnosis is clinical, based on the Rome III criteria. IBS is characterized by chronic or recurrent abdominal pain associated with changes in bowel frequency and consistency, when other etiologies are excluded. The combination of the Rome III criteria with the absence of alarm symptoms have a sensitivity of 65%, specificity of 100%, 100% positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 76%. Current tests commonly fail to obtain an objective diagnosis, and effective therapies are lacking. There are no specific endoscopic findings that can discriminate IBS patients from healthy patients. Most colonoscopies are performed to rule out other etiologies and in more than 50% of the cases are normal.