Gastrointestinal pitfalls

Gastrointestinal symptoms account for 15 to 30 per cent of patients presenting to first contact doctors. The disorders causing these are many and varied--some are rare but most are common. While a considerable depth of knowledge is necessary to suspect, diagnose and treat the rarer diseases, it is the common conditions which constitute the major problems in everyday practice. These problems usually result from inadequate clinical assessment, from a lack of logical thought, from incorrect teaching in undergraduate years and from an uncritical application of therapeutic methods which are not based on scientific fact.