Gastrointestinal Tract Considerations: Part II: How Should a Rheumatologist Best Manage Common Lower Gastrointestinal Tract Complaints in Systemic Sclerosis?

Abstract

Lower gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are a frequently encountered problem for clinicians managing patients with systemic sclerosis. The current management practices are focused on the treatment of symptoms with little information available on how to use GI investigations in daily practice. This review demonstrates how to integrate the objective assessment of common lower GI symptoms into clinical care with the aim of guiding clinical decision making. Understanding the type of abnormal GI function that is affecting a patient and determining which parts of the gut are impacted can help clinicians to target therapy more precisely.

Keywords: Gastrointestinal symptoms; Lower gastrointestinal tract; Systemic sclerosis.