Update on Chronic Diarrhea: A Run-Through for the Clinician

• Published in: Current gastroenterology reports Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 421 - 427
• Main Authors: Sandhu, Davinder K., Surawicz, Christina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Current Science Inc 01.10.2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abdomen; Anemia; Antibiotics; Biopsy; Blood tests; Celiac disease; Chronic Disease; Colonoscopy; Crohn's disease; Diabetes; Diagnosis, Differential; Diagnostic Techniques, Digestive System; Diarrhea; Diarrhea - diagnosis; Diarrhea - etiology; Diarrhea - therapy; Digestive System Diseases - diagnosis; Digestive System Diseases - pathology; Digestive System Diseases - physiopathology; Endoscopy; Fecal incontinence; Feces; Gastroenterology; Humans; Inflammation; Inflammatory bowel disease; Irritable bowel syndrome; Irritable Bowel Syndrome - diagnosis; Lactose; Large Intestine (B Cash; Laxatives; Leukocytes; Lymphoma; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Patients; Radiation; Section Editor; Tropical diseases; Vitamin deficiency; Inflammatory bowel disease; Celiac disease; Chronic diarrhea; Management diarrhea; Diagnosis diarrhea; Irritable bowel syndrome; Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth; Infectious diarrhea; Pancreatic insufficiency; Bile acid malabsorption
• ISSN: 1522-8037; 1534-312X; 1534-312X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11894-012-0283-3

Chronic diarrhea is a common patient complaint, with an estimated prevalence of 5 %. Diarrhea is defined as >200 g/day of stool with decreased consistency, and chronic diarrhea is defined as lasting more than 4 weeks. The purpose of this review is to guide the clinician’s diagnostic evaluation and management of chronic diarrhea, rather than providing a textbook comprehensive review of the subject, focusing on the patient in developed countries and excluding the immune suppressed patient. While the investigation and treatment of chronic diarrhea can be challenging due to its myriad causes, when the clinician employs a practical approach, dividing chronic diarrhea into bloody, fatty, and watery causes, it simplifies and streamlines the work-up and management plan and leads to improved patient outcomes.