ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to review what is known about the characteristics of patients with chronic abdominal pain, examine the issue of disability in this population, and suggest practical management strategies. New-onset abdominal pain may follow one of several courses: a time-limited, acute episode with complete resolution, a recurrent, waxing and waning pain syndrome associated with repeated, temporary disruption of social and occupational function, or chronic abdominal pain for more than 6 months with disabling interference in the patient’s life. Chronic abdominal pain is an umbrella term that encompasses several forms of mysterious abdominal distress. In the literature it has been used to refer to patients with pain-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, functional abdominal pain, chronic pelvic pain, and functional dyspepsia. Research on patients with chronic abdominal pain has been stymied by seemingly insurmountable definitional problems and paradoxes. Merely establishing a working definition that minimizes false negatives and positives is difficult.
