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W. G. Thompson, MD, FRCP(C)
Ottawa Civic Hospital

JAMA. 1985;254(3):359.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Dr Sataline¹ suggests that the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and the mitral valve prolapse syndrome are associated. We and others have shown that the IBS and its variants are very common in the population.^2,3 The spastic colon type alone appears to affect 10% to 20% of adults. It is not surprising, therefore, that the IBS might be found coincidentally with many other conditions. Indeed, IBS symptoms are common in patients with peptic ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease, and uncomplicated diverticular disease.^4-6 Other functional gastrointestinal tract disorders are very common in the population as well. Globus occurs in almost 45% of young adults.⁷

Thus, the finding of such symptoms in company with anatomically remote abnormalities must be interpreted cautiously. Discovery of manometric abnormalities and simultaneous chest pain in two patients with mitral valve prolapse syndrome seems very likely to be coincidental. It should not be . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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