# UCLA researchers describe new form of irritable bowel syndrome called post-diverticulitis irritable bowel syndrome (PDV-IBS)



## Jeffrey Roberts (Apr 15, 1987)

*UCLA researchers describe new form of irritable bowel syndrome*

September 06, 2013

by: Kim Irwin

UCLA researchers have described a new form of irritable bowel syndrome that occurs after an acute bout of diverticulitis, a finding that may help lead to better management of symptoms and relief for patients.

The discovery of this new condition, called post-diverticulitis irritable bowel syndrome (PDV-IBS), validates the irritable bowel symptoms that many patients report long after suffering a bout of diverticulitis but that many physicians have waved off as being part of the original condition, said Dr. Brennan Spiegel, an associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and senior author of the research.

"We've known for a long time that after some people develop diverticulitis, they're a different person. They experience recurrent abdominal pains, cramping and diarrhea that they didn't have before," Spiegel said. "The prevailing wisdom has been that once diverticulitis is treated, it's gone. But we've shown that IBS symptoms occur after the diverticulitis, and they may result from an inflammatory process, like a bomb going off in the body and leaving residual damage."

The research was published Sept. 5 in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

The complete article is here >>

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