Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the Small Intestinal Microflora. What We Do Know?

Irritable bowel syndrome, one of the most common functional gastro intestinal disorders all over the world is considered to have a multi factorial pathogenesis. Recently more and more studies are focusing on the changes that take place in the micro biota of patients with irritable bowel syndrome, underlining the bacterial role in this pathogenesis. As a consequence, bacterial overgrowth, along with intestinal dysmotility, altered brain-gut axis and genetic factors are considered part of this pathophysiology. This report intends to summarize the actual knowledge on irritable bowel syndrome and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth syndrome, from details on the epidemiology, clinical manifestation, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment to details on the relationship between these two syndromes.