Irritated bowel syndrome is a significant and underestimated problem in childhood. This condition is not so good studied in pediatrics in comparison with adult practice. Pediatricians often diagnosed this disease in infants and young children without proper reasons. The authors analyze current opinions about etiology and pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnosticsand treatment of irritated bowel syndrome in children. An emphasis is made on diagnostic criteria, which allow suggesting and confirming the diagnosis.
Functional origin is known in 95% of children with constipation. According to ICD-10 there is traditional distinction between syndrome of irritated bowel and proper functional constipation which have wide spectrum of causes. Rome criteria III propose initial diagnostic criteria of these disorders but the use of the criteria in pediatrics is frequently complicated. Clinical practice of pediatrician demands differentiation of constipations into hypertonic and hypotonic ones. Treatment programs include necessary component — laxative drugs which are useful in cases of subcompensated and decompensated types of constipation. One of the laxative drugs is Forlax containing polyethyleneglycol 4.000; it can be given to children 6 months old and older. The literature data shows high efficiency and safety of the drug.Key words: children, constipation, laxative drugs.(Voprosy sovremennoi pediatrii — Current Pediatrics. 2010;9(6):69-77)
Key questions of pathogenesis, diagnostics and treatment of functional constipation in children are described in this article. Pediatrists have to pay a great attention to this problem, because quality of life of children is decreases very much due to constipation. A dramatic and typical clinical case of chronic constipation in patient, who was 6 years old, was reported. An algorithm of management of such patients is presented, but authors give attention to the fact, that oversimplified methods of treatment and monotherapy frequently can't provide positive results.Key words: children, functional constipation, diagnostics, treatment.
