Chronic constipation in adults

doi:10.1136/bmj.b831

Published 20 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b831
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b831

Clinical Review

Chronic constipation in adults

Iain J D McCallum, specialty registrar, Sarah Ong, speciality registrar, Mark Mercer-Jones, consultant colorectal surgeon

¹ Colorectal Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Gateshead NE9 6SX

Correspondence to: M Mercer-Jones mark.mercer-jones@ghnt.nhs.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Chronic constipation is a common and debilitatingcondition

Many cases can be managed in primary care with simplemeasures

Investigations can often identify a cause for resistantconstipation and thus guide treatment

Targeted surgery canbe of great benefit to carefully selected patients

Chronic constipation in adults is a common and often debilitatingproblem that may present to almost any medical practitioneras it can have many causes. The most recent Rome criteria providea useful research and clinical tool for defining chronic, functionalconstipation (box 1).¹ For the problem to be described as chronic,the Rome criteria need to have been met for the previous threemonths, with the onset of symptoms six months prior to diagnosis.We prefer a more inclusive definition of chronic constipation:any patient experiencing consistent difficulty with defecation.This review examines the evidence for the modern approach totreating chronic constipation and is based . . . [Full text of this article]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Chronic constipation: let's start from definition, first of all in elderly.: C. Pedrolli
bmj.com, 27 Mar 2009 [Full text]
Bristol Stool Chart and Bristol Stool Form Scale: Kenneth W Heaton
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2009 [Full text]