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Mechanically restricted regional blood flow might explain gastrointestinal pain

Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 2, pages 378–379 (2005)Cite this article

Idiopathic abdominal pain of presumed digestive tract origin accounts for an increasing proportion of hospital admissions for acute or chronic visceral pain. Symptoms pertaining to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are reported by 10–15% of the Western population, and noncardiac chest pain accounts for 2–5% of emergency room presentations.1 The origin of this pain is therefore of huge clinical importance. Indeed, the nature of IBS is probably the most vexing question that gastroenterologists face.

So, why do some patients experience normally unperceived gastrointestinal motor events as painful, while others do not perceive normally painful gastrointestinal pathology? The explanations for such variation in sensitivity could lie not only in the motor behavior of the gut and in the nature of the sensory nerves, but also in matters related to blood flow.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aalborg Hospital, and Professor at Aarhus and Aalborg Universities, Denmark

    Hans Gregersen

  2. Bergen University, Norway

    Hans Gregersen

  3. Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA

    James Christensen

Authors
  1. Hans Gregersen
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  2. James Christensen
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Correspondence to Hans Gregersen.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Gregersen, H., Christensen, J. Mechanically restricted regional blood flow might explain gastrointestinal pain. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2, 378–379 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpgasthep0255

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