Medical Centers that specialize in IBS

USA

The UNC Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders:

News: UNC Receives NIH Grant

Five-Year NIH Grant on Mind-Body Interactions and Health
September 2004

Chapel Hill, NC - The UNC Center for Functional GI & Motility Disorders has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to foster interdisciplinary research on the interactions among the mind and body in health and disease. The Center will receive a total of $4.3 million over a five-year period to establish a Gastrointestinal Biopsychosocial Research Center focused on the causes and treatment of functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders.

UCLA/CURE Neuroenteric Disease Program

Past:
The new Center has evolved from existing research programs at UCLA and at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System (GLAVAHS), in particular the CURE: Digestive Diseases Research Center, the UCLA/CURE Neuroenteric Disease Program under Dr. Emeran Mayer, and the Brain Gut Research Program under Y. Taché. Drs. Mayer and Taché are the P.I. and co-P.I. of the new center grant.

Present:
The core of CNS/WH is the newly funded NIDDK P50 SCOR Center grant "Women's Health and Functional Visceral Disorders Center." The new center which closely links investigators based at UCLA and the VAGLAHS, is the only NIH-funded center in the area of brain-visceral interactions and the first DK Women's Center. It focuses on research into the bi-directional mechanisms by which the central nervous system and the viscera interact in health and disease. A particular focus is on the neurobiological mechanisms by which stress modulates these brain-visceral interactions, on mind/brain/body interactions and on sex-based differences in this modulation.

The grant has significant implications for a better understanding of such common gastrointestinal disorders as irritable bowel syndrome, Functional dyspepsia and common urological disorders such as irritable bladder syndrome ("interstitial cystitis"). In addition, a major research focus is on neurobiological mechanisms underlying the greater vulnerability of women to develop some of these disorders.

The center grant involves investigators and consultants from four different institutions: UCLA, VAGLAHS, Ohio State University and University of Pittsburgh who are interacting closely to accomplish the principal goals of the proposed studies.
 

The Cleveland Clinic: Gastroenterology and Hepatology:

(Best Hospitals 2004: U.S. News & World Report names The Cleveland Clinic one of the nation's top four hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey.)

The Center for Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders diagnoses and treats patients with motor abnormalities of the stomach, small intestine and large intestine (colon). Some of these problems are among the most common health concerns. It’s estimated that constipation affects up to 10 million Americans, while approximately 20 million Americans suffer from the opposite problem, fecal incontinence.

The center provides the latest and most comprehensive diagnostic and treatment options for bowel incontinence. Diagnostic tests available include several types of manometric techniques, electrical recording from the stomach and nerve conduction tests. If necessary, additional tests are provided by the Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Departments.

Patients seen at the center are offered medical therapy and biofeedback training exercises, or surgical treatment in the departments of general surgery or colorectal surgery.

In addition to patient care, our staff participates in patient and medical education and clinical research. When appropriate, patients can participate in new treatment trials conducted at the Cleveland Clinic.
overview

Departments & Services

Written Information from the Cleveland Clinic
 

Mayo Clinic

Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic specializes in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the digestive tract and liver. It is the largest practice of its kind in the United States. In any given year, members of the Division perform approximately 30,000 minimally invasive, endoscopic procedures in state-of-the-art facilities.

Through a divisional infrastructure organized around interest groups oriented toward disease processes, organ systems, procedures or patient groups, clinical expertise is integrated with the newest forms of established and experimental diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Outpatients and patients in the hospital are cared for by teams of physicians and allied health personnel with broad expertise in all forms of gastroenterological and hepatobiliary diseases.

Because of our recognition that high-quality care depends upon scientific discovery, major research programs at the basic, applied, and translational levels exist to generate new knowledge that ultimately benefits patients.

Mayo Clinic IBS
 

THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Gastroenterology and Hepatology

IBS Information
 

Please have your symptoms diagnosed by a medical practitioner or doctor. It is important to remember that you cannot self diagnose IBS and there are many serious conditions that can mimic some IBS symptoms. The leading cause of misdiagnosis is self-diagnosis.