A new blood test that incorporates two antibodies can diagnose diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (D-IBS), according to a study published May 13 in PLOS One. For patients with chronic diarrhea, the test can noninvasively distinguish D-IBS from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), eliminating the need for costly and invasive exploratory testing. “Having an early diagnosis means patients can avoid years of invasive tests and visits to specialists,” lead author Mark Pimentel, M.D., from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said in a statement. “With these new blood tests, many patients will now be able to proceed right to therapy for their condition.” To date, diagnosis of IBS has been based on a “diagnosis of exclusion,” the authors say, which has involved a “great deal of expense and morbidity to patients with IBS.” Imaging, endoscopy, colonoscopy, and blood testing have been utilized to rule out alternative “organic” explanations for diarrheal symptoms. While celiac disease (CD) diagnosis has been “greatly enhanced” using serum tissue transglutaminase antibody, a marker has been lacking for definitive diagnosis of D-IBS. Commonwealth Laboratories (Salem, Mass.) commercially launched the $199 IBSchek test during Digestive Disease Week 2015 (May 17-19; Washington, D.C.). The enzyme-linked immunosorbant-based assay detects the presence of […]