Caroll Beltrán M.
Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile. Servicio de Gastroenterología. Laboratorio Inmunogastroenterología
Catherine Iribarne W.
Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile. Servicio de Gastroenterología
Felipe Valenzuela M.
Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile. Servicio de Gastroenterología
César Navea S.
Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile. Servicio de Gastroenterología. Laboratorio Inmunogastroenterología
Edith Pérez de Arce O.
Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile. Servicio de Gastroenterología. Laboratorio de Enfermedades Funcionales Digestivas y Motilidad
Ana María Madrid S.
Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile. Servicio de Gastroenterología. Laboratorio de Enfermedades Funcionales Digestivas y Motilidad
The Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a functional digestive disorder recognised as a
Biopsychosocial model, because psychological, social and biological factors influence the
development of its symptomatology. A high psychiatric comorbidity is frequently observed
in patients with IBS associated to an increase in the severity of symptoms and a low-grade
of inflammatory response. Although its pathophysiological mechanism has not been fully
understood, an imbalance in bidirectional communication is described in the gut-brain axis that
affects psychoneuroimmune status of IBS patients. Diverse psychotherapeutic interventions
have been shown to be effective in reducing the psychosocial impact in IBS patients, as well
as in reducing their intestinal symptoms. However, at the clinical practice, it is not routinely
applied because of its high cost. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an
alternative program that shown to be effective in reducing the clinical severity and improving
the quality of life of patients with IBS. Although MBSR has demonstrated to reduce the levels
of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, in healthy subjects and cancer’s patients, its
effect on the immune response in IBS patients remains unknown. This review discusses the
pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between psychosocial disturbances,
clinical symptomatology and low-grade inflammation in IBS. Based on that, we present the
arguments that allow proposing the use of MBSR for the IBS treatment.
Beltrán M., C. ., Iribarne W., C. ., Valenzuela M., F. ., Navea S., C. ., Pérez de Arce O., E. ., & Madrid S., A. M. . (2016). Mindfulness en el síndrome de intestino irritable. Revista Hospital Clínico Universidad De Chile, 27(4), pp. 300–8. https://doi.org/10.5354/2735-7996.2016.70852
